Cal Volleyball Update: #4 Golden Bears Down #11 Huskies In Seattle

It took a hard and bruising four sets to take the last tough road test, but the Cal women pulled it out, winning 15-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-21. Tarrah Murrey had 23 kills and 10 digs, Carli Lloyd notched up 37 assists and 18 digs, and Megan Schmitt and Robin Rostratter had 11 and 12 digs respectively. Correy Johnson had 11 kills and Kat Brown and Adrienne Gehan added five apiece. Cal also ratcheted up the defense with 22 blocks (7 from Brown, 5 from Lloyd, 4 from Shannon Hawari) and 60 digs.

After getting blitzed in the first set (the Huskies had 13 kills on 21 attempts), Cal rallied behind Murrey and Lloyd. Tarrah racked up 19 kills in the final three sets (six, five, and eight in each), and Lloyd chipped in with 29 assists, 5 blocks and 3 kills. Kat Brown added three kills and three blocks in the second set. The Huskies were up 13-6 and 16-10 in the second set and on the verge of taking control of the match before Cal rallied with strong defense and attack errors by Washington. Then Murrey turned on the heat; her team down 19-17, she had five of the next six kills by the Golden Bears to put Cal up 23-21 and help guide them to the second set victory.

Cal would not trail in the third set after Washington took a 1-0 lead. They used blocks by Lloyd, Murrey and Brown and attack errors by the Huskies to break a 19-19 tie and take a two sets to one lead. Cal then held off every Washington attack with good blocking (four of their points came off of blocks) and taking advantage of attack errors to win the deciding fourth set.

Cal now makes the long trip to Pullman to face the Washington St. Cougars. GO BEARS!