Dec. 1, 2007
DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 7 California volleyball team (24-7, 12-6 Pac-10) defeated No. 22 Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference in a four-game match (29-31, 30-28, 30-23, 30-17) today at historic Cameron Indoor Stadium in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament. The Golden Bears will now advance to the regional semifinal and face Iowa State. This is the third time in school-history that the Bears have advanced to the round of sixteen in the NCAA Tournament, each time under the direction of current head coach Rich Feller. With today's win, the Bears are now 9-5 in NCAA postseason play under Feller. The Bears are also within one win of tying a school record for wins in a season. The 2003 squad reached 25 wins and also reached the third round of NCAA Tournament play.
Freshman setter Carli Lloyd moved into fourth all-time for assists in a single season with her double-double performance, netting 65 assists and 17 digs against the Blue Devils. Most of Lloyd's sets went to either senior outside hitter Angie Pressey or sophomore outside Hana Cutura as the two combined for 44 kills on the night. Pressey finished with 20 kills (6e, 39att) and hit for .359 while Cutura led the Bears with 24 kills (6e, 58att) and hit for .310. For the second night in a row, the two have each contributed over 20 kills each. Senior middle hitter Ellen Orchard continued her outstanding play by putting together an eight-block match, totaling 179 this season, for second best all-time at Cal. Orchard also had 12 kills (2e, 22att, .455) and added one of Cal's six service aces.
The Bears tagged 74 balls for kills on 164 attacks (22e) for a .317 hitting percentage including a .441 game-four mark with 18 kills and only three errors (34att). Cal's 20 total team blocks marked the third time the team had at least that many team blocks in a match and is also the eighth time that the Bears have had 16 or more total team blocks this season. Holding the Blue Devils to .176 (63k, 33e, 170att) moves Cal to 22-2 when posting a higher hitting percentage than its opponent. The Bears are also 24-2 when they post more kills than their opponent.
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The Bears took control of game four and ran up a sizeable lead after facing a five-point tie. Using a 12-4 run, ending with a kill by sophomore middle hitter Minid Wiley, the Bears opened up a gaping 17-9 lead on the Blue Devils. Duke pushed back and put the Bears on alert with a short run of its own, coming as close as within five. Firing a shot right back, the Bears responded to the Duke run with a 10-2 run to close out game four to take the match. The Bears hit .441 in the fourth game and added four team blocks to their effort for the right to advance to the Wisconsin Regional next week.
Game three saw 17 ties and five lead changes. By the time the score reached 17-17, the game had been tied 16 times. The Bears took off on a short run to take a 20-17 lead but the Blue Devils came back to knot things up one last time at 21. The Bears hit .341 with 19 kills (5e, 41att) in game three. A Pressey kill helped the Bears take their final lead, followed by three consecutive team blocks including a solo by Lloyd. It was Lloyd's dunk that gave Cal a four-point lead that the Bears built to six at game point. On a broken play, Wiley dug up the ball and Lloyd set up Pressey from right next to the scorer's table to give her the kill shot down the middle of the court for a 2-1 match lead.
With the score tied at 10 in game two, the Blue Devils seized an 11-10 lead, an advantage that they would build to seven points at 22-15. The Bears got 17 kills (8e, 43att) and hit .209 while holding Duke to .109 (16k, 11e, 46att) by putting up eight total team blocks in the second period alone. Pressey added seven more kills to her total and Lloyd pushed her total to 35 assists through two games. The Bears fought back to gain the tie at 25 with a solo block by Wiley. Two consecutive Pressey kills gave Cal its first lead since being up 5-4 and put the Bears closer to knotting the match up. The Devils would not be denied however, pulling within one of the Bears at 29-28 but a cross-court kill by Orchard ended any Duke hopes of a 2-0 lead and Cal entered the break with a tie match.
In game one, the Bears had 20 kills with six errors (46att) and hit for .304 but four service errors helped make the difference in a tight game. The Blue Devils had 20 kills as well (8e, 46att) and hit for .250 but committed fewer errors away from the attacking game. The match opened up as a tug-of-war but a Pressey kill to the coffin corner gave Cal a lead it could build on. The Bears held the lead until the Blue Devils caught them at 12. Pressey and Cutura combined for 13 of Cal's kills and an Orchard shot tied things up at 29 but it wouldn't be enough as Duke jumped out to a 1-0 lead by taking the final two points.
The Bears will return to Berkeley for two days before returning to the road; heading to Madison, Wis. to face the Iowa State Cyclones. Iowa State upended seventh-seeded regional host No. 8 Wisconsin in a 3-0 sweep earlier tonight to move into the round of sixteen. No. 2 Nebraska and Michigan State will be the other two teams in the Wisconsin Regional with the winner moving on as one of the final four teams in the tournament.
