Time: 7 PM
Online stream: Pac-12 Digital???
Score update: Cal Volleyball twitter (@CalVolleyball),, Gametracker
It's a "must-win" match for the Bears at home and we're not sure if this match will be streamed or not. Since match will be the second part of the double header after the Cal Women's Basketball game, I don't see why they wouldn't just keep the same stream going. Nevertheless, this match is currently not listed.
Bears need this win to secure at least a .500 record for the year. While Utah (13-18, 4-14) and their 3-9 away record looks like an easy win on paper, Utah did get a 4 set win over ASU (who the Bears couldn't beat) at ASU last week. Utah have also pushed a top 10 Washington squad to 5 sets on the road 3 weeks ago, not to mention 3 sets won over the top 10 UCLA and USC two weeks ago.
Last week in Cal Volleyball: After being crushed by UCLA (who hit an insane and should have been unsustainable 0.537 hitting rate for the match), the Bears had a match point against USC (after USC had just beat No.1 Furd the night before) before faltering in 5 sets in heartbreaking fashion.
Simply put, the Bears need to bounce back and get this win. The team has finally started to gel toward the end of the season. If the Bears can make it into the tournament, they could really surprise and take down a top team or two.
GO BEARS!
Bears got 3 top 100 recruits in middle hitter Jenelle Jordan (Houston, Texas), setter Alyssa Jensen (St. Louis, Mo.) and libero Maddy Kerr (San Diego). Jordan, ranked 17th in the country, will hopefully replace the void left by graduating seniors Shannon Hawari and Kat Brown. Jensen, ranked 35th in the country, may push Joan Caloiro for the starter job or allow the Bears to run a 6-2 formation (which employs two setters). Kerr, ranked 65th in the country and is the daughter of former NBA player (and Arizona grad) Steve Kerr, will fill the hole left by senior libero Robin Rostratter (all circumstantial indication seem to be that Robin is not red shirting this year and returning next year).
Between them and hopefully the return from injuries of Michelle Neumayr and Lillian Schonewise, the Bears will be back to being a National Championship contenders. A solid freshman class is doing that for Furd this year.