BERKELEY – On Thursday, junior Tara DeSa decided that it was her turn to write her name in the Cal record books, just as classmate Lydia Grote had done just last weekend.
One five-set thriller against Arizona (15-13, 5-12 Pac-12) later, she had officially joined the 30-dig club with a personal-best 32 digs – just one off the school record. Only 10 other Bears in program history surpassed the 30-dig mark during their time at Cal, making DeSa part of an exclusive club.
For its part, Cal (7-20, 0-17) put up an impressive fight against the visiting Wildcats, posting their fourth straight five-set match; ultimately, however, the result was much the same as the other three, as the Bears fell, 2-3.
Three other Cal players besides DeSa reached double-digit digs on the night (Peyton DeJardin 16, Annalea Maeder 11, Kendall Jensen 10), with Maeder adding 36 assists for her 11th double-double of the season. Junior Lydia Grote led all players with 18 kills, while freshman Mikayla Hayden posted 5 total blocks.
Arizona kicked off the match with a 25-13 set victory, but Cal roared back in the second set with a gritty comeback effort and a pair of small scoring runs to clinch the 26-24 win and tie up the match at 1-1. The Bears continued their gutsy play in the third set, keeping things close until the very end, where they broke out of a 20-20 tie to overcome the Wildcats, 25-22.
The visitors, however, refused to go down quietly, launching a furious attack in the fourth set to earn a 25-14 win…
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