Bears Host No. 4 Stanford, Travel To Utah

Cal volleyball will put its undefeated streak to the test this week against its first two conference opponents.

VB9/18/2023 3:00 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Begins Pac-12 Play With Big Spike

BERKELEY – California volleyball comes off an undefeated nonconference slate hoping to carry that momentum into Pac-12 play, but will face its toughest test yet on Tuesday night as it hosts No. 4 Stanford at 7 p.m. PT, followed by a Sunday match at 11 a.m. PT against Utah in Salt Lake City.
 
The Golden Bears (11-0) rank among the NCAA top-50 in opponent hitting percentage (.122 – third), assists per set (13.51 – fourth), service aces per set (2.05 – 24th), hitting percentage (.263 – 41st) and blocks per set (2.51 – 42nd). They stand alone at the top of the Pac-12 with 14.41 kills per set and 13.51 assists per set.
 
Cal is 13-83 against the Cardinal (7-2) and 10-18 against the Utes (5-5) all-time, having lost both of its last meetings with the two teams.
 
Stanford is once again a national powerhouse, having already defeated No. 7 Texas, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 10 Minnesota and No. 2 Louisville this season. Cardinal libero Elena Oglivie (defensive), opposite hitter Kendall Kipp (offensive) and setter Kami Miner (defensive) have a Pac-12 weekly award under their belts this year; Miner currently ranks sixth in the NCAA with 11.28 assists per set.
 
The Utes are .500 on the year with victories over Weber State, San Francisco, Tennessee State, UNLV and North Carolina State. Libero Vanessa Ramirez leads Utah’s defensive efforts, ranking third in the Pac-12 with 151 digs and 4.08 digs per set.
 
LI LEADS
Freshman outside hitter Maggie Li has already cemented her name in the Cal record books as she is the first player in program history to win Pac-12 honors in consecutive weeks, as well as the Bears’ first three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. She earned Cal’s first Pac-12 weekly honor since 2019 – and its first rookie honor since 2018 – after the Bears’ first three matches of the season. Li totaled 34 kills and 27 digs with a .313 hitting percentage at the Army Invitational, earning her way onto the all-tournament team. The next week, Li added two stellar matches to her season with a 20-kill, nine-dig performance against Portland State and a 13-kill outing on .579 hitting against Southern Utah, earning her second…