Nov. 13, 2009

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BERKELEY - California volleyball sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey posted a season-high 18 kills (7e, 38att, .289) to lead the No. 12-ranked California volleyball team (16-8, 9-5 Pac-10) to a four-set victory (25-14, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20) over Oregon State (12-13, 3-10 Pac-10) on Friday, Nov. 13, at Haas Pavilion. Senior outside hitter Hana Cutura posted her eighth double-double of the season as she logged 16 kills (5e, 43att, .256) with 18 digs and two solo blocks as the Golden Bears claimed their fourth consecutive match.

Freshman opposite hitter Correy Johnson added six kills (1e, 15att, .333) and three blocks and senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley tallied seven kills (6e, 19att, .053) with five blocks in the winning effort. Senior libero Kristen Kathan led all players with 22 digs and had one of Cal's seven service aces. Junior setter Carli Lloyd dished out 41 assists and added two kills and nine digs along with two service aces.

Oregon State senior outside hitter Rachel Rourke led the Beavers with 16 kills (9e, 59att, .119) and sophomore libero Betsy Devich had a team-high 14 digs on the night. Junior outside hitter Jill Sawatzky added six kills (5e, 23att, .043) for a Beaver team that could only muster a .080 attack rate on the night with 38 kills on 138 attacks (27e). The Bears had their own struggles but found a way to come up with a .182 attack percentage with 49 kills (25e, 132att).

The Bears took a 6-5 lead in the fourth set on a kill by Murrey but two straight kills by Rourke gave the Beavers a 7-6 lead. Cal responded with a five-point run to earn an 11-7 advantage. The Beavers climbed back to within a point at 11-10 as they beat Murrey to the pins for a block but the Bears retaliated to claim a five-point lead at 15-10 off three kills by Murrey and a service ace by junior defensive specialist Meagan Schmitt. Cal held its distance as Oregon State got within three points on three occasions before a bump set by Murrey gave Cutura a clean back-row attack for her 16th kill of the night and a 24-20 lead. Murrey then went back and served up an ace to end the set, 25-20, and give Cal the 3-1 win. The Bears posted 14 kills in the final set (5e, 37att, .243) and the Beavers had 13 kills (5e, 44att, .182).

Cal never trailed in the first set and came away with a 25-14 win. The Bears needed just 10 kills (4e, 19att, .316) to put away a Beaver squad that registered four service errors and 10 attack errors (6k, 23att) to post a negative .174 hitting percentage. After earning the first three points of the set, the Bears raced out to an 18-10 lead as Cutura put a kill through the Oregon State block. Cal continued to climb and earned set point as Lloyd and Wiley teamed up to stuff an attack by Beaver senior outside hitter Bree Knitter. Cutura ended the set with her left-side kill.

After trailing by as many as five points on more than one occasion, Cal pulled into a tie at 23-all in the second set but the Beavers earned the final two points as Rourke put in a kill and Sawatzky got up to block an attack by Cutura. The Bears committed more errors than they had kills in the second set to log a negative .041 attack rate (12k, 14e, 49att) and surrendered the set to an Oregon State team that managed just seven kills itself (5e, 39att, .051). The Beavers made use of eight big blocks to stifle the Cal attack and earned a one-all tie heading into the break with a 25-23 win.

Down one point at 16-15 in the third set, freshman defensive specialist Robin Rostratter came in and served the next eight points to give the Bears a commanding 23-16 lead. Wiley and Lloyd connected on a slide play to give Cal set point before Rourke sent an attack into the net to end the set, 25-17, for the Bears. Cal earned the first five points of the set but allowed the Beavers to come back with four straight points of their own. Oregon State knotted the score at seven-all as Sawatzky earned a kill but the Bears stood their ground and held up for a 13-all tie before blowing the set open with a 12-4 finish. Cal had 13 kills with just two errors (27att) to post a .407 attack percentage in the third set. The Beavers had 12 kills (7e, 32att, .156).

Cal will honor its senior class in its final home match of the season on Sunday, Nov. 15, in a 12:30 p.m. PT meeting against No. 16 Oregon (16-7, 6-7 Pac-10). Fans with ticket stubs from the Cal versus Arizona football game will receive free admission to the match.