Bears To Face No. 24 USC, UCLA

Cal will attempt to clinch its first season sweep over USC since 1986.

VB11/15/2023 3:22 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Heads To Los Angeles For Final 2-Game Road Trip

BERKELEY – California volleyball will head to Los Angeles this week for its last two-game road trip of the season, facing off with No. 24 USC on Friday at 7 p.m. PT and finishing the weekend at UCLA at noon on Sunday. The Golden Bears are 15-12 (4-12 Pac-12) on the year, most recently coming within two points of an upset over No. 6 Oregon last Saturday.
 
The Trojans (17-9, 11-5) lost to Cal, 1-3, in the last meeting between the two teams but are a perfect 10-0 at home this year and still hold the 68-13 series advantage. USC ranks among Division I’s top-50 teams in hitting percentage (.266), total assists (1,328), assists per set (12.65) and total kills (1,408). Outside hitter Skylar Fields led both teams with 22 kills in USC’s last matchup with Cal; she is one of the top players in the nation with 5.23 kills per set (second best in the nation) and 5.66 points per set (third best in the nation). A win over the Trojans would give Cal its first season sweep over USC since 1986. The Bears’ last win against a top-25 squad – a 3-2 victory over then-No. 15 Stanford – came in the 2020-21 spring season.
 
UCLA (16-10, 8-8) is just 3-5 at home this season but holds a 73-9 all-time advantage over the Bears, including a sweep in Haas Pavilion earlier this year. The Bruins are currently on a three-match win streak, including a five-set victory over then-No. 8 Washington State. Cal’s last win over the Bruins – a 3-0 sweep in Los Angeles – was in 2018. As a team, UCLA ranks 23rd in the nation with 2.61 blocks per set and 31st with 258.5 total blocks. Middle blocker Anna Dodson has been sensational for the Bruins, having posted 10 kills on .450 hitting and three blocks in UCLA’s last matchup with Cal. She currently ranks 29th in the nation with a .388 hitting percentage on the year and 39th with 1.26 blocks 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 and is the Bears’ first five-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 –…