No. 7 Golden Bears Dispose of No. 9 UCLA in Five-Set Thriller

Junior outside hitter Hana Cutura leads Cal past the Bruins with a season-high 26 kills

Nov. 21, 2008

BERKELEY -

The No. 7-ranked California volleyball team (21-5, 11-4 Pac-10) defeated No. 9 UCLA (18-9, 8-8 Pac-10) in a five-set thriller (17-25, 26-24, 27-25, 26-28, 15-13) today at Haas Pavilion. With the victory, the Golden Bears swept the season series with the Bruins for the first time in school history and now own a three-match winning streak against UCLA. Cal was led by junior outside hitter Hana Cutura's season-high 26 kills and career-high 68 attacks (10e, .235) as she notched her ninth double-double of the year by adding 13 digs. Cutura also led the Bears in blocks with four (two solo).

Freshman outside hitter Tarah Murrey enjoyed the best match of her young career as she poured in a career-high 21 kills and 50 attacks (12e, .180) and logged a double-double of her own with a career-high 19 digs. Murrey also put up two solo blocks on the night. Sophomore setter Carli Lloyd was the target of the UCLA attack but held her ground as she matched a career-high with 18 digs and took home her ninth double-double of the season by leading all players with 57 assists. The Bears attacked at a .164 rate (the lowest in a victory this season) by notching 70 kills on a season-high 201 attacks (37e). Cal also recorded a season high in digs with 87. The Bruins managed just a .144 attack percentage, getting 63 kills on 202 attacks (34e).

Defensively, the Bears put up 10.0 team blocks. But they were still outpaced by the 16.0 that the Bruins recorded, including a match-high 11.0 by UCLA freshman middle blocker Amanda Gil. Cal's two defensive specialists each reached double digits in digs as junior libero Kristen Kathan tied for team-high honors with 19 and sophomore Meagan Schmitt recorded a new career high with 11 digs of her own. In all, five Bears dug up more than 10 balls on the night. For UCLA, senior outside hitter Ali Daley led the way with 19 kills (7e, 65att, .185) and 28 digs.

For the fourth time in four meetings, the Bears and Bruins took their match to a fifth and deciding set and for the third straight time, Cal came out on top as Cutura blasted her 26th kill of the night through the UCLA block. The Bears never trailed in the fifth and even stormed out to a 5-1 lead as Murrey opened up with two kills and a solo block. After a timeout, the Bruin attack settled into place as it forced a five-all tie. The Bears would go ahead on two more occasions, but were pulled back into ties each time. The third and final time, a Cutura kill gave Cal the 8-7 lead and the advantage for good. The Bears got out to a three-point lead at 13-10 but allowed the Bruins to come back with a couple of points before Murrey knocked down an overplayed ball to give the Bears set point at 14-12. After the longest rally of the night ended in UCLA's favor to bring the Bruins within a point at 14-13, Cutura finished things off for the evening. The Bears logged their best hitting percentage of the match in the fifth set, coming away with 10 kills (3e, 27att) to attack at a .259 rate. The Bruins on the flipside, logged their worst hitting percentage of the night, getting seven kills (5e, 29att) to register a .069 attack rate.

After facing a deficit for nearly the entire fourth set, the Bears clawed their way back into a tie at 18-all. Cal turned its momentum into a 24-20 lead and had the match at its fingertips but the Bruins answered back with four straight points, sparked by two kills from freshman middle blocker Katie Camp. Cal took its final lead at 25-24 when Murrey got a kill but the Bruins fought back to tie things two more times before claiming the fourth set thanks to big blocks by Gil and senior setter Nellie Spicer. The Bears had 19 kills in the fourth but also had 12 errors (52att, .135) while the Bruins posted 15 kills (5e, 44att, .227).

UCLA either led or faced a tie for much of the third set until three consecutive errors set the Bears up with an 18-17 lead. But the Bruins came right back to take the lead two more times in the set. Cutura got three of her 10 kills at the end of the set to push Cal to three leads, all tied back up by the Bruins. UCLA knotted things up one last time at 25-all when freshman middle, Katie Camp killed a ball down the middle of the court but two straight errors did the Bruins in as Spicer's serve went into the net before a UCLA attack went wide. The Bears hit .244 in the third, getting 16 kills on 41 attacks (6e). Although the Bruins hung close, their offense struggled, getting 10 errors on 46 attacks (14k, .087).

In an all-out struggle of a second set that included 13 tied scores, Cal finally claimed and held a lead when senior outside hitter Am'ra Solomon put a kill off the UCLA touch to give the Bears an 11-10 advantage. The Bruins came back to take the lead however at 17-15 but the Bears responded once again by going on a run that opened up a four-point advantage at 23-19. With one last gasp, the Bruins forced ties at 23 and 24-all before Murrey put a shot off a UCLA defender to give Cal its second set point at 25-24. Cutura and junior middle hitter Mindi Wiley teamed up for a big block to close the set in Cal's favor heading into the break. The Bears attacked at a .186 rate in the second set (13k, 5e, 43att) and the Bruins, at a .120 rate (16k, 10e, 50att).

Although the Bears jumped out to a three-point lead at 11-8 in the first set, the Bruins rushed back with a 10-1 run to claim the 18-12 lead thanks in part to the serves of UCLA freshman defensive specialist Lainey Gera. Cal mounted a short-lived comeback when Gera committed an attack error trying to play a free ball. The Bears got to within six points at 22-16 when senior middle hitter Kat Reilly and Cutura met at the net for a block. But a back row attack violation and a service error by Lloyd sealed the Bears' fate. Cal attacked at a .026 rate in the first set, getting 12 kills (11e, 38att). The Bruins had fewer kills with 11, but committed just four errors on 33 attempts (.212).

The Bears close out regular season home matches as they host No.10 USC on Saturday (Nov. 22) at 5 p.m. Cal will honor its seniors in pre-match ceremonies against the Trojans. The match will also be broadcast live by Fox Sports.