Volleyball Heads To The Mountains

VB10/6/2022 2:30 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Faces Utah, Colorado This Weekend

BERKELEY – California volleyball (7-7, 0-4 Pac-12) heads east this weekend for the 2022 season’s third week of conference play, visiting Salt Lake City for an Oct. 7 matchup against Utah followed by a trip to Boulder, Colo., for an Oct. 9 contest against Colorado.

The Bears are 10-16 all-time against the Utes, who rank 39^th in the country with 13.56 kills per set, and 6-15 all-time against the Buffaloes, who are third-best in the nation at 3.04 blocks per set.

Cal hopes to earn its first Pac-12 win since Feb. 12, 2021, a five-set home victory over No. 15 Stanford.

Utah is led by outside hitter Madelyn Robinson, one of the nation’s premier attackers who ranks second in the Pac-12 in kills per set (4.40) and fourth in total kills (198), and left back Vanessa Ramirez, who leads the conference with 251 total digs and 4.40 digs per set. Colorado, meanwhile, fields the Pac-12’s leading hitter in middle blocker Meegan Hart (.464 hitting percentage) and one of the nation’s top defensive players in middle blocker Alexia Kuehl, who ranks 15^th in the NCAA (4^th Pac-12) with 1.44 blocks per set and 2^nd in the conference with 72 total blocks.

First serve is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. PT against Utah on Friday and at 11:00 a.m. against Colorado on Sunday.

 

START ‘EM YOUNG

After Week Five, Cal boasts the Pac-12’s top two blocking freshmen in Sophie Scott and Mikayla Hayden. No other program boasts two players among the NCAA’s top 10 freshmen in blocks per set (Scott No. 5, Hayden No. 10), and only one other program (Northwestern State) has a freshman duo ranked higher than Cal’s on the NCAA’s total blocks list (Scott 65.0, Hayden 57.0).

 

LYDIA LEADS

Junior Lydia Grote has posted a fantastic start to the season, accumulating 231.0 points, fourth-most in the Pac-12, through five weeks of play. She also leads the team in total kills (191, 6th Pac-12), kills per set (3.67, 6th Pac-12) and points per set (4.4, 6th Pac-12). Her play in Week Two of the season earned her All-Utah Valley Tournament honors.

 

DEFENSE DOMINATES

Cal currently ranks 31st in the nation (4th Pac-12) with 2.56 blocks per set and 3rd in the conference with 133 total blocks. They are one of just three Pac-12 teams (along with Oregon and Oregon State) who have multiple players in the Pac-12’s Top 15 in digs per set (Tara DeSa and Annalea Maeder), one of three (Colorado, Stanford)…