Bears Close Out Weekend Against Huskies

BERKELEY – California volleyball (7-7, 0-4 Pac-12) returned to Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon with hopes of making a statement against No. 17 Washington (11-3, 3-1 Pac-12), who entered the 2022 season as the reigning Pac-12 Champions. In the end, the Huskies’ sixth-ranked offense proved every bit as formidable as billed, as the visitors hit .395 on the match to overpower Cal’s staunch defense and sweep the Bears with a score of 3-0.

Junior Tara DeSa reached 600 career digs on Sunday, while classmate Lydia Grote posted her 500^th career kill.

Cal scored first on a Husky error, but Washington was able to put together several scoring runs, one with as many as six straight points, to jump out to an insurmountable lead after the initial point and taking the first set, 25-13. The Bears fared better in the second set, forcing the Huskies to increase their tempo as the home team crept within two points on multiple occasions. Freshman Sophie Scott and junior Leah Schmidt each recorded two blocks in that set, followed by a late block from Grote and freshman Mikayla Hayden to move the score up to 19-24; however, UW then slammed home a kill to go up 2-0 on the match.

Scott and Hayden combined for another block early in the third set, sparking off a series in which the Bears were able to capitalize on a few Washington errors to bring the score to 4-6. The Huskies then responded with a 7-0 scoring run to pull away for good, despite late-game kills from Hayden, Grote and junior Sam Taumoepeau. Eventually, UW…