No. 9 Bears Set For Fight In The Fort

BVB3/22/2023 4:51 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal To Play Three Ranked Matches In Fort Worth

BERKELEY – The No. 9 California beach volleyball team is back on the road this weekend for four matches at TCU’s Fight in The Fort tournament. The Golden Bears will face the No. 1 Horned Frogs and No. 6 Grand Canyon this Friday followed by a pair of Saturday matches with No. 15 Florida International and Missouri State.
 
Live scoring for all four matches will be available on CalBears.com.
 
Big Spike Comeback
The Bears had a dramatic comeback win over No. 8 Stanford in their home opener this past weekend. After falling behind 2-0 on the lower courts, Cal’s top three pairings were forced to win out to capture the victory. The transfer pair of Liz Waters-Leiga and Sierra Caffo kept its team’s hopes alive with its first court-two win of the season, and the team of Maya Gessner and Ella Dreibholz grinded out a three-set win on court three to tie the match. It would all come down to the senior duo of Ainsley Radell and Ashley Delgado. Playing in the top spot for the second time this season, the veterans didn’t flinch, winning in straight sets to complete the reverse sweep. It was Cal’s first win over a top-10 team this season and led to its highest AVCA ranking of the year at nine.
 
1s Getting it Done
The court-one pair of junior Maya Gessner and sophomore Ella Dreibholz have found its rhythm as of late. After a slow start, the pair has posted a 9-4 record at the top spot in the lineup. The duo came up clutch in the team’s 3-2 wins over No. 14 Long Beach State and No. 18 Pepperdine, earning the match-clinching points.
 
Lower Court Locks
The duo of senior Lexi McKeown and sophomore Alex Young-Gomez has been a near lock on the lower courts so far this season. Primarily playing on courts three and four, the pair has accumulated a 10-2 overall record and is tied for the highest win percentage on the team at .833. The two are an undefeated 6-0 on court three.
 
Nine In A Row
After dropping two of their first three matches, including a heartbreaker to No. 4 USC, the Bears went on an incredible win streak of nine matches. The streak stretched from March 4-12 and featured six sweeps and four wins over ranked opponents. It finally came to end on the final day of the Queen’s Cup with a 3-2 loss to No. 9 Hawai’i.
 
Bears Go 5-1 in L.A.
Cal is coming off of a strong showing in Los Angeles, where it played six matches in three days. After…