Kelley Cox/klcfotos
Freshman Sawyer Thomsen (#15) notched 10 kills on .391 hitting to lead Cal in its season finale.
Cal Swept In Season Finale; Thomsen Leads With 10 Kills
STANFORD – California volleyball concluded its 2023 season on Friday, traveling to The Farm for its Pac-12 finale against No. 2 Stanford. In the end, it was the Cardinal (26-3, 19-1 Pac-12) and its powerful offense who came away with the Big Spike sweep (13-25, 17-25, 19-25) while hitting .469 as a team.
Freshman Sawyer Thomsen led Cal (16-15, 5-15) with 10 kills on .391 hitting (including six in the third set) for the best performance of her young career. Stanford hitters Elia Rubin and Kendall Kipp each posted double-digit kills to lead the way for the home squad.
The Cardinal controlled the first set the entire way, with Cal only forcing an early 1-1 tie off the first of freshman Maggie Li’s nine kills. Stanford kept that momentum going into the second set despite a close start, stringing together six consecutive points to take a 12-5 lead and never letting the Bears within five after that. The third set was by far the most competitive, as Cal posted a five-point run (with two kills each from Thomsen and sophomore Mikayla Hayden) and a three-point run in quick succession to take its first lead of the match at 10-9. Stanford finally pulled ahead for good after one final tie at 15-15, scoring 10 of the next 14 points to clinch the match.
The Bears finished the year with their first winning record since 2019 and career milestones from several individuals. Li put together arguably the best freshman season ever by a Cal rookie, earning the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award six times and ranking among the Pac-12’s top players (and top NCAA freshmen) with 441 kills and 3.90 kills per set. She also finished second on the team with 34 aces and third with 265 digs. Senior Tara DeSa closed out her Golden Bear career with a 513-dig season – fourth-most in Cal history and her first time surpassing the 500-dig mark – and averaged 4.64 digs per set to lead the Pac-12. Her career digs total of 1,361 ranks sixth on the all-time program list. Junior Annalea Maeder posted her first 1,000-assist season, ending the year with 1,037 and bringing her career total to 2,584…
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