BERKELEY, Calif. – Utah Volleyball shook off a sluggish start on Sunday afternoon against the California Golden Bears to pick up a reverse sweep (17-25, 16-25, 25-15, 25-14, 15-5) at Haas Pavilion. The Utes rolled past the Bears in the final three sets after hitting .444 or above in the final three frames.
Utah was led by freshman KJ Burgess, who recorded a career-best 13 kills on .650 hitting on Sunday. Burgess has now hit above .400 with at least five kills in eight of the last nine matches, and is hitting a Pac-12 Conference league-best .453 in conference play and a team-high .393 hitting percentage for the season.
The Utes and Golden Bears traded runs of points to start the match, but it was a 4-1 run from the Bears that caused Utah to fall behind for good as Cal pulled ahead 13-10. Trailing 15-12 at the media timeout, Utah allowed five straight points to be scored by Cal, which extended the deficit to 20-12. Cal would eventually take the opening frame 25-17 after hitting .484 in the first set with just one error compared to Utah’s .200 hitting percentage.
Cal pulled ahead early on in the second set after scoring seven of nine points to lead 12-6, which forced Utah to call timeout. The Utes responded with three of the next four points, but the Bears countered with a 4-1 run to lead 17-10. Utah later cut the deficit to five points after a block from KJ Burgess and kill from Abby Karich, but Cal managed to put together a 5-1 run…
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