OREM, UTAH – California volleyball (3-2) walked into Lockhart Arena on Friday afternoon aiming to make a statement against Northern Arizona (1-3) – and make a statement they did, putting together a solid offensive performance for a 3-0 sweep to close out the Utah Valley Tournament. The win brings the all-time series between the two squads to 4-0 in favor of the Bears.
Sophomore Annalea Maeder posted a new career high of 52 assists and tied her career high of 14 digs for the Bears’ second double-double of the season. Four different Bears – Lydia Grote (17 K), Leah Schmidt (15 K), Mikayla Hayden (11 K) and Sam Taumoepeau (11 K) – accumulated double-digit kills, leaving Cal with high hopes as it returns to Berkeley for its first home slate of play.
Cal and Northern Arizona kicked off the first set with a ferocious back-and-forth effort punctuated by kills as opposed to errors, leading to a quick 7-7 tie before NAU attempted to start pulling ahead. The Bears were not about to let that happen, however – Cal went on an incredible 9-0 scoring run to close out the 25-21 victory, which included three straight kills from Hayden and four straight from Grote.
Once the Bears had a taste of a big scoring run, they decided that they wanted more in the second set. Down 2-4 early on, Taumoepeau and freshman Sophie Scott provided the bulk of the action in a roaring 6-0 offensive streak, assisted at every turn by Maeder. They followed that up with another 5-0 run just two scores later, eventually…
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