Aug. 31, 2010

Complete Aug. 31 California Volleyball Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK:

2010 USD Tournament
Jenny Craig Pavilion | San Diego, Calif.

No. 11 California vs. Gardner Webb | www.gwusports.com
Friday, Sept. 3 - 5 p.m. PT

No. 11 California at No. 25 San Diego | www.usdtoreros.com
Saturday, Sept. 4 - 7 p.m. PT

BERKELEY - The 11th-ranked Golden Bears will take their show on the road as they head for sunny San Diego this weekend. Cal won both of its home matches to open the 2010 campaign, but will receive its first road tests in the USD Tournament at Jenny Craig Pavilion. Host San Diego is ranked No. 25 and was selected to take the West Coast Conference title this season. Both Gardner-Webb and San Diego are still licking wounds from several losses in action last weekend so the Bears will have to stay on guard in order to extend on their two-match winning streak.

THE FACTS: The No. 11 California volleyball team (2-0) heads to San Diego for the 2010 USD Tournament. The Golden Bears will face Gardner-Webb (1-3) of the Big South Conference in the first match of the tourney at 5 p.m. PT on Friday, Sept. 3. No. 25-ranked host San Diego (1-2) of the West Coast Conference and GWU play in the second match at noon on Saturday, Sept. 4. Cal and San Diego close the tournament action with a 7 p.m. match on Sept. 4.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: Live statistics for both of Cal's matches will be provided via Gametracker links on the CalBears.com website. Live streaming video for the Cal-USD match is available on the www.usdtoreros.com women's volleyball schedule page. Fans can also receive set-score updates and a behind-the-scenes look at the Bears by following @CalVolleyball on Twitter - www.twitter.com/calvolleyball, or by "Liking" the Cal volleyball Facebook page - www.facebook.com/calvolleyball.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Fans and media can purchase Cal volleyball photos at GoldenBearSports.com, the official photographer of Cal Athletics. Follow @GBSports on Twitter to get instant notifications when new albums and galleries are posted to the website. Visit www.twitter.com/gbsports to follow.

CAL SPORTS REPORT: Tune in to Comcast SportsNet to get the latest on Cal athletics on the Cal Sports Report. The one-hour show hosted by Cal sportscasters, Todd McKim and Francesca Weems, will now feature an HD quality broadcast and will premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 1. It will then air on Sept. 8, 15, 22 and 29; Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27; Nov. 3, 10, 17 and 24; and Dec. 1. Please check your local listings for times and availability.

LAST WEEK'S COURT REPORT: The Bears hosted and won the 2010 Cal Molten Classic with 3-0 victories over UC Santa Barbara (25-18, 25-15, 28-26) and Manhattan College (25-8, 25-15, 25-7). Junior outside hitter Tarah Murey was named most valuable player of the three-match tournament and was joined on the all-tournament team by senior setter Carli Lloyd and sophomore middle hitters Shannon Hawari and Correy Johnson. Murrey led the Bears with an impressive 21-kill performance (4e, 43att, .395) against the Gauchos before she posted her first double-double of the young season with 11 kills (1e, 23att, .435) and a match high 14 digs against the Lady Jaspers. Lloyd led all players with 40 assists against UCSB while Hawari added nine kills (2e, 17att, .412) against the Gauchos. All 13 players saw playing time against Manhattan.

GARDNER-WEBB NOTES: The Runnin' Bulldogs (1-3) opened their season with a 3-1 win over North Carolina Central, but have since dropped nine of their last 11 sets amidst a three-match losing streak. Head coach Chris Phillips is just one victory from earning her 400th career coaching win. Three Runnin' Bulldogs average better than two kills per set in four matches this season. Junior middle blocker Laura Wilcox leads the team with 2.43 kps and is also the team leader in service aces with seven this season. Freshman middle Tyler Cockrell puts in 2.36 kps while leading the team in blocks with 18 (1.29 bps). Sophomore outside hitter Molly Rhyne averages 2.29 kps. As a team, the Runnin' Bulldogs are attacking at a .129 rate (136k, 82e, 417att) after committing 44 errors in their last two outings combined. Cal and Gardner-Webb will meet on the volleyball court for the first time on Sept. 3.

NO. 25 SAN DIEGO NOTES: The Toreros (1-2) pushed fourth-ranked Hawaii to five sets in the Hawai'i Invitational in their season opener, but fell, 15-9, in the fifth. After dropping its next match in straight sets to No. 14 UCLA, San Diego rebounded to earn a 3-1 win over Kansas State. The Toreros were picked to win the West Coast Conference after finishing in second place a year ago. Senior outside hitter Amy DeGroot set a career mark with 27 kills (.533) against the Wildcats and leads the Toreros with 4.08 kps (.339) this season. DeGroot also leads USD in digs with 3.08 dps. Senior right side Ali Troost contributes 2.25 kps (.134) and 1.83 dps. Freshman middle hitter Chloe Ferrari and sophomore outside hitter Amber Tatsch each add 2.00 kps. The Bears and Toreros will meet for the ninth time on Sept. 4. Cal owns a 6-2 lead in the all-time series record, but the last time the two teams faced each other, USD claimed a five-set victory on Sept. 10, 2005, in the Golden Bear Invitational. The last seven meetings have taken place in Berkeley. The Bears and Toreros have only met in San Diego once, with USD turning the win on Nov. 4, 1976.

SELECT COMPANY: The Bears are one of just four teams to have advanced as far as the NCAA regional championship match in each of the last three years. The other three squads that can claim such a feat are Nebraska, Texas and three-time defending NCAA champion Penn State. In addition, Cal is one of six teams that has advance to the NCAA regional semifinal in each of the last four years (2006-09). Among the other programs to accomplish the same are volleyball powerhouses Florida and Stanford as well as Nebraska, Texas and Penn State.

RECORD RECALL: Setter Carli Lloyd has 4,379 career assists and is 1,399 shy of eclipsing Cal's long-standing record of 5,777 by Samantha Carder (2003-06). Lloyd opened 2009 in fifth place at Cal for career assists but moved into second place at season's end as she passed Sienna Curci (1989-93) on Nov. 15. Several Cal records were broken in 2009. The most notable of newly minted records is the all-time leader for career kills. Outside hitter Hana Cutura surpassed 20-year record holder Tiffany Rochelle (1986-89) for most career kills during a five-set victory at Washington on Nov. 7, and finished with 2,004 in her career. Cutura became the first player in Cal history to surpass the 2,000-kill plateau and was the fifth player in Pac-10 history to do so. She also completed her career in third place at Cal for career attacks with 4,642 and in seventh place for career service aces with 113. Perhaps the most impressive record that Cutura achieved was to reach sixth place in career hitting percentage at Cal. She is the highest ranking outside hitter on the esteemed career ladder with a .269 career mark. Libero Kristen Kathan moved into third place in career digs with 1,486 and middle hitter Mindi Wiley entered the all-time career blocks leaders ladder with 332 for ninth on Cal's all-time record.

BEARS IN THE PAC-10 RANKS: The Bears lead the Pac-10 in blocks (3.67 bps) and opponent hitting percentage (.055, 53k, 42e, 201att). Cal is third in the conference in digs (14.67 dps) and service aces (2.00 saps). The Bears also rank fourth in kills (14.50 kps), assists (13.17 aps) and hitting percentage (.328, 87k, 23e, 195att) to put Cal in the top four of the league in every statistical category. Junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey leads the conference in kills with 5.33 kps; she ranks 10th in digs with 2.83 dps. Sophomore middle hitter Correy Johnson leads the Pac-10 in blocks with 1.83 bps. Sophomore middle Shannon Hawari is right behind Johnson with 1.75 bps. Hawari also ranks 10th in the conference in hitting percentage at .429 (11k, 2e, 21att). Sophomore middle hitter Kat Brown is second in the league with a .571 attack rate (9k, 1e, 14att). Senior setter Carli Lloyd ranks third in the conference with 11.00 assists per set. Sophomore defensive specialist Robin Rostratter is tied for second in the league with 0.83 service aces per set. Freshman Lauren Loerch is tied for eighth in the conference with 1.00 blocks per set.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS: Several Bears have collected all-tournament team honors this season. Junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey was named the most valuable player of the 2010 Cal Molten Classic. Senior setter Carli Lloyd and sophomore middle hitters Shannon Hawari and Correy Johnson joined Murrey on the all-tournament team.

BEARS IN TV LAND: Cal will be featured on two tape-delayed television broadcasts this season. Fox Sports Net will carry Cal's home matches against UCLA (Nov. 6) and Stanford (Nov. 19). Please check your local listings for channel lineups and availability.

RUNNIN' WITH THE PAC: Cal competes in what is undeniably the toughest conference in women's collegiate volleyball--the Pacific-10. The conference has captured five of the last nine NCAA titles and holds 13 volleyball national championships overall. The Pac-10 has had 10 or more AVCA All-American selections in each of the last five years and boasts a group of coaches with over 200 years of combined head-coaching experience. A conference-record eight Pac-10 teams held rankings for the first time in 2009. This season, a record seven Pac-10 teams were ranked in the top 20 in the preseason AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. Defending champion Stanford ranked the highest at No. 4, with Washington coming in at No. 8. USC earned the No. 10 ranking with Cal right behind it at No. 11. UCLA checked in at No. 16 with Arizona at No. 18 and Oregon rounding out the seven-team slate at No. 20.

STRICT SCHEDULE: As a part of the Pac-10 conference, the Bears face top-ranked teams on a regular basis. This season, based on the preseason poll, Cal will face 12 ranked teams. In addition to taking on No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 Washington, No. 10 USC, No. 16 UCLA, No. 18 Arizona and No. 20 Oregon, the Bears will also take on No. 22 San Diego and No. 25 Saint Mary's College.

TEXAS TWO-STEP TWO: For the eighth consecutive season, the Cal roster will feature at least two players from the great state of Texas. This time, the Bears have four players from the Lone Star State. Redshirt sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari (Plano, Texas) and sophomore setter Elly Barrett (Austin, Texas) will be joined by a pair of highly touted freshmen as outside hitters Adrienne Gehan (Dallas) and Lauren Loerch (Georgetown, Texas) arrive in Berkeley.

CROSSON' THE PASS: The Bears welcome a new assistant coach to the staff in 2010. Sam Crosson comes across the Diablo Pass from Saint Mary's College (Moraga, Calif.) to join head coach Rich Feller and assistant coach Chris Bigelow. Crosson helped lead the Gaels to their second consecutive 20-win season in 2009 as SMC posted the second-best record in program history at 23-5. Saint Mary's logged a perfect 13-0 mark at home and set new school records with an 11-match winning streak and a 13-1 record in West Coast Conference matches to net the program's first-ever WCC title. The Gaels made their fifth appearance in the NCAA tournament and nearly took out Pac-10 champion Stanford in the second round. Crosson has also been an assistant at Santa Clara and at the University of the Pacific. He played at Pacific from 1994-97.

QUICK REUNION: Assistant coach Sam Crosson and volunteer assistant coach Sydney Chute will meet their former team, Saint Mary's College, in a 7 p.m. PT match on Saturday, Sept. 18, as a part of the Pac-10/WCC Challenge. Both Crosson and Chute have had over five years of experience as coaches for the Gael program.

MEAGAN'S MONDAY MINUTE: Senior defensive specialist Meagan Schmitt will host a special 60-second video segment each Monday this fall as a Facebook exclusive feature of the Cal volleyball team. The Kentfield, Calif. native will have one minute to communicate to fans about what she has been up to, what's coming up on the Cal schedule, and to answer questions posed by fans through Facebook and Twitter.

#1 | SETTING HER PLACE: In three seasons, senior setter Carli Lloyd has established herself as a force to be reckoned with. As a freshman, she completed her season just six assists shy of setting a new Cal single-season record as she posted 1,550 in 2007. In 2008, Lloyd continued to push boundaries by putting up 1,392 assists, as she earned the sixth best all-time single-season mark at Cal and placed third in the nation with her 12.00 aps average. With 4,313 career assists, Lloyd is second all-time at Cal and tops among active Pac-10 assist leaders.

#1 | HOME, HOME ON THE RANGE: Setter Carli Lloyd was quite literally raised in a barn. Her home in Bonsall, Calif. is a ranch just north of San Diego. Among the many animals on the ranch, Lloyd's pets include horses, dogs, cats, snakes, chinchillas, cows, pigs and plenty of fish in a man-made pond that she helped dig out.

#1 | CALIFORNIA GLADIATOR: Two-time All-American setter Carli Lloyd credits her athleticism to the training she received from uncle and coach, Galen Tomlinson. Tomlinson--a former volleyball coach at Fallbrook Union High School--is better known in some circles as Turbo from the 1980's television series, "American Gladiators."

#2 | ROCKIN' ROBIN: Sophomore defensive specialist Robin Rostratter recorded seven service aces and put up 45 digs in 82 sets of play in 2009. When she's not on the court, Rostratter likes to rock out to a variety of music; from Beyoncé to John Mayer and from Michael Bublé to T-Pain.

#4 | LITTLE FIREBALL: As a youngster, junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become a firefighter. Douglas Murrey played basketball for San Jose State and was selected in the ninth-round of the 1981 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. It was Murrey's mother Barbara whose athletic influence shows through Tarah however; she played volleyball for San Jose State in 1978-79.

#7 | HAWARIAN VACATION: Sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari didn't take any time off when she set a new Cal record for single season hitting percentage in 2008 as she posted a .387 mark with 113 kills on 230 attacks. She ranked fourth among Pac-10 players and also contributed to the Bears defensively with 64 blocks on her way to a selection to the 2008 Pac-10 All-Freshman team.

#8 | PART OF THEIR WORLD: Hailing from Orlando, Fla., the home of Disney World and Mickey Mouse, sophomore opposite Correy Johnson's favorite Disney character is Ariel from the Little Mermaid; partly because she has similarly red hair. Johnson wasted no time making her way to the court in her first season as she was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. She has posted 202 kills (78e, 474att) and a .262 attack percentage while adding 89 blocks. Johnson logged a career-high 15 kills (4e, 29att) and posted a .379 attack percentage in a match against USC on Oct. 2, 2009.

#10 | WAKEY, WAKEY; EGGS AND BAKEY: One of sophomore setter Elly Barrett's favorite pastimes is wakeboarding. She spent the summer prior to entering school at Berkeley serving as a counselor at a Christian wakeboard camp called Instead in Austin, Texas. The camp operates as a ministry of the Austin Ridge Bible Church.

#11 | DOUBLE-DRIBBLE: Sophomore middle hitter Kat Brown was a dual-sport athlete in high school as she excelled on both the volleyball and basketball courts. She was a four-year starter in both sports at St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High School. Her basketball coach was former Golden Bear point guard Kristin Iwanaga. Iwanaga helped Brown achieve school records in points, rebounds and blocked shots on her way to being named Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League MVP as a senior.

#13 | GOPHER GAFFEN: Sophomore middle hitter Tia Gaffen is the first Golden Bear to hail from the Gopher State. A native of Wayzata, Minn., Gaffen comes from a place better known as the "North Star State", "Bread and Butter State" and the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". In the end, Gaffen chose one bay over many lakes.

#44 | FAMILY TRACK RECORD: Senior defensive specialist Meagan Schmitt seems destined to be a Cal athlete. Both of her parents, Tom and Laura, attended Cal and were cross country and track and field athletes for the Bears. Her uncle, John Starrett also starred as a rower for the Bears. Schmitt's older brother, Jake, ran for the Cal track and field team but later transferred to and ran for Washington. Her younger sister, Caitlin, is attending UCLA this fall and will run for the Bruins.

GOING BACK TO CALI: Before each match, the Bears gather for a team huddle in which they chant "Going, going; back, back; to Cali, Cali!" Taken from the 1997 rap-hit Going Back To Cali by late Bad Boy Records rapper Notorious B.I.G., the chant is a reference to the great Golden State; the home of the Golden Bears.

BRAND NEW BEARS: The Bears signed two top-ranked recruits to its 2010 class out of the great state of Texas. Cal will welcome the services of outside hitters Lauren Loerch (Georgetown, Texas/Georgetown HS) and Adrienne Gehan (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal School of Dallas). Loerch played for Austin Performance volleyball club and was named to the "Next 30" list of Fab 50 Recruits. She was the Prep Volleyball No. 23 Senior Ace and was selected to the 16-5A District All-Tournament team in 2008 and 2009. Gehan played for the Skyline Juniors volleyball club and lettered all four years in high school. She was named to the All-Southwest Preparatory Conference team three times and was selected to the All-Texas team. Gehan was named an AAU All-American in 2007 and 2008 and was a top-50 junior recruit as well as Prep Volleyball's No. 22 Senior Ace. Gehan was selected as the Dallas Morning News Athlete of the Year. Sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari received the same honor in 2007. Two defensive specialists will also take their place as freshmen on the 2010 Cal squad; Juliana Stivanicevic (Moraga, Calif./Miramonte HS) and Erin Freeman (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake HS).

PRESEASON POLL POSITIONS: Cal received the No. 11 ranking in the AVCA Division I Coaches' Top 25 Poll and was tabbed No. 9 in the Volleyball Magazine Top 20 Poll. The selection in the AVCA poll marks the 10th time in school history that the Bears have been ranked to open a season; the eighth since Rich Feller became head coach in 1999. Cal was ranked No. 6 at the start of 2009 and finished at No. 8. The Bears held the No. 5 ranking in 2008, No. 12 in 2007, No. 17 in 2006, No. 19 in 2005, No. 10 in 2004 and No. 24 in 2003. Cal's two other preseason rankings came in 1989 (No. 9) and 1983 (No. 12). Setting a program-best mark in 2007, the Bears finished the season in the No. 4 spot after reaching the NCAA national semifinal, where they fell 3-0 to eventual NCAA champion Penn State. Cal's highest regular season ranking was recorded several times in 2008 as the Bears reached No. 4 for several weeks. Since 1982, the Bears have been ranked in the weekly AVCA poll a total of 147 times.

2009 IN REVIEW: The Bears earned their school-record eighth consecutive berth into the NCAA tournament in 2009 and advanced to the NCAA regional semifinal for the fourth straight year. More notably, Cal made its third consecutive appearance in an NCAA regional final. Only three other teams have done the same in the last three years; Nebraska, Texas and three-time defending champion Penn State. Head coach Rich Feller logged his 200th win as Cal's leader with a 3-0 victory over Washington State on Oct. 10. A week later, while on the road at Oregon State, he recorded his 500th career win in a 3-0 sweep of the Beavers. Outside hitter Hana Cutura received Pac-10 Player of the Year honors and took home her third AVCA All-America certificate. Cutura left Cal as its all-time kills leader with 2,004. She is just the fifth player in Pac-10 history to break the 2,000-kill plateau. Setter Carli Lloyd, outside hitter Tarah Murrey and middle hitter Mindi Wiley each received all-conference honorable mention notice. Lloyd was later selected to the AVCA All-America second team for the second consecutive year. Opposite hitter Correy Johnson earned a spot on the Pac-10 All-Freshman team and was joined by middle hitter Kat Brown, who received All-Freshman honorable mention. Cutura, Lloyd, Murrey, Wiley and defensive specialists Kristen Kathan and Meagan Schmitt each earned conference all-academic honors.