Bears Swept By Bruins – California Golden Bears Athletics

BERKELEY – California volleyball welcomed in-state rival UCLA to Haas Pavilion on Friday night, hoping to earn its second Pac-12 win of the season, but the Bruins (10-7, 2-5 Pac-12) were seeking a second Pac-12 win of their own and eventually came out with the victory, sweeping the Golden Bears (12-6, 1-6 Pac-12) in straight sets.
 
Sophomore Mikayla Hayden posted yet another standout performance for Cal, recording 11 kills on .556 hitting and three blocks, while freshmen Maggie Li and Ashley Li each had 10 kills of their own. Senior Tara DeSa reached her ninth straight match with double-digit digs (13); meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Paige Morningstar only just missed out on her first career double-double with 10 digs and nine assists, the former of which doubled her career high. Fellow redshirt sophomore Ava Mehrten paced all players with five total blocks.
 
As a team, the Bears avoided the struggles at the service line that had plagued them as of late, matching UCLA with four aces to four errors, but Cal hit just .138 on the match to the Bruins’ .256.
 
Hayden (5-for-7, .714), Ashley Li (five kills) and Morningstar (seven digs) contributed in a big way to the first set, keeping the Bears in the hunt despite the Blue & Gold finding itself in an early hole. Cal eventually came back from five points down to tie the score at 24 apiece, courtesy of a late 4-0 run capped off by a solo block from Mehrten that sent the Haas Pavilion crowd into an uproar – UCLA, however, scored the next two points…