Oct. 19, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - After winning an exciting first set, the No. 4 Stanford women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 5 California today at Maples Pavilion, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25.
Stanford drops to 15-3 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-10 with the loss, while Cal claims sole possession of first place with a 17-1, 7-0 mark.
The Golden Bears were paced by junior outside hitter Hana Cutura's 23 kills, 12 digs and .364 hitting percentage, while the Cardinal was led by sophomore Alix Klineman's similar effort. The Cardinal outside hitter tallied 21 kills and 12 digs on .362 hitting, marking her third double-double of the year. Cynthia Barboza added 14 kills for the Cardinal, and Foluke Akinradewo contributed 12 kills and seven blocks. Cassidy Lichtman notched 35 assists in the match.
Cal setter Carli Lloyd also had a double-double (55 assists, 12 digs), while Mindi Wiley (11 kills), Tarah Murrey (14 kills) and Am'ra Solomon (11 kills) all reached double-figure kills.
The loss marked the first for Stanford in 12 matches, and was the first time since 2004 that the squad has lost to Cal.
Cal outhit Stanford .260 to .226 and was the first team to hold the Cardinal below .250 since Nebraska did in the season opener.
The first set was close from the start, with neither team able to open up more than a one-point lead until Stanford finally did so on a Cal attacking error at 9-7. The Bears quickly caught up, and despite three more two-point Cardinal margins, the match knotted in 11 ties before the media break. Klineman and junior Janet Okogbaa put up a block to take another two-point lead on the first play out of the media timeout, 16-14, but Cal followed with a damaging 6-1 run, which included kills by five different Golden Bear players. Down 20-17, Head Coach John Dunning huddled the team for another timeout, and quickly turned the momentum. Klineman had three consecutive kills out of the break, tying the set at 20, but Cal took three of the next four points to take a 23-21 lead. Akinradewo picked up a kill to make it 23-22, and Stanford never let Cal score again. After a Stanford block, a Golden Bear attack sailed wide to give the Cardinal set point. Barboza put the set away with her second kill, 25-23. Klineman led Stanford with six kills in the first set. The Cardinal win snapped Cal's 29-set winning streak. Cal led in the set-one hitting column, .333 to .323.
Once again in the second set, neither team could open up much of a lead early on. Stanford's 4-2 margin was the largest by either team until Cal strung together four consecutive points to go up 13-10 and force a Stanford timeout. The Bears took the first two points out of the break, pushing the margin to the largest yet by either team, 15-10. From that point, Stanford struggled to cut into the deficit and soon found itself down 23-17. With Cal nearing the finish, Stanford rallied back into the game, using two Klineman kills and a critical block by Okogbaa and Barboza take five of the next six points. At 24-22, however, Cutura pounded her 14th kill to end the set, 25-22. Cal once again outhit Stanford, .281 to .222, and Klineman carried the Cardinal with five more kills.
Another tight exchange started the third set, but a trio of Stanford hitting errors combined with a pair of kills by Solomon fueled an 8-2 Golden Bear run that put Stanford in another tough hole, 13-8. The team had trouble chipping into the lead, coming the closest at 19-15 on a Lichtman kill. Late in the set, Stanford made another surge, trimming the deficit to 23-19. Cal took the last two points, however, claiming the win on an ace, 25-19. Cal outhit Stanford .483 to .343 in the third set.
In the fourth set, Stanford scored three consecutive points to pull out to a 7-5 lead early on. The teams went 14 consecutive points without scoring on serve after that, trading perfectly until a Golden Bear block finally tied things at 13. By the media break, Stanford had its two-point lead back, 15-13, but Cal came back to tie at 15, then 16, then 17. Cal scored three consecutive points to take the lead at 20-19, but the first of three key blocks by Akinradewo tied the set back up at 20. After a Cutura kill, Akinradewo teamed up with Klineman and Lichtman for two more blocks to make it 22-21, and a Golden Bear service error gave the Cardinal its 23rd point at 23-22. A Cal attempt sailed deep to give Stanford its first of three set points at 24-22. Stanford couldn't finish, however, squandering set point chances at 24-22, 24-23 and 25-24. Cal claimed its first set point chance at 26-25 on a Wiley kill, and finished with a block on the next point by Wiley and Murrey.
Stanford returns to the court next Friday in Los Angeles, taking on USC at the Galen Center at 8 p.m.