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Women's Tennis
Starr Wins, Ends Run At All-American
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - Denise Starr ended her stay at the Riviera ITA All-American Championships with a victory on Wednesday. The California senior, who's ranked 62nd, upset TCU's 57th-ranked Donika Bashota, 6-4, 6-2, in the round of 16 of the qualifying singles back draw at the Riviera Tennis Club.
The back draw ended with that round.
Over her two days at the All-American, Starr lost in her qualifying singles opener on Tuesday against Alabama's 33rd-ranked and sixth-seeded Andie Daniell, 6-3, 7-5, defeated Wichita State's 74th-ranked Gabriela Porubin, 6-4, 6-1, in the back-draw opener and added a win over another nationally ranked opponent on Wednesday.
"She built off of her momentum from last weekend," said Cal head coach Amanda Augustus of Starr's performance at the recent Cal Nike Fall Invitational. "Denise did a really good job at this tournament of getting a couple of really high-quality singles wins. We were pretty familiar with Bashota from when she played at Washington State. We knew what to expect. Each match Denise played, she got better and better. We're excited to see what she'll be able to do the rest of the fall season nationally."
Men's Soccer
Cal Heads North for Pair of Pac-12 Matches
BERKELEY - On the road again.
California men's soccer finish up its four-game road slate this week with visits to Corvallis, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., on Thursday and Sunday, respectively.
On their first stop, the Golden Bears (4-3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) face the Oregon State Beavers (4-4-2, 0-1-1 Pac-12) at Paul Lorenz Field at Patrick Wayne Valley Stadium scheduled for a 5 p.m. kickoff.
The last pair of meetings with the Beavers resulted in a 2-1 Cal win in Corvallis led by Christian Thierjung and Nick Lima, and a 2-2 draw when the Bears hosted with Spencer Held and Sam Ebstein connecting for scores.
Women's Soccer
Volleyball
Cal Volleyball to Host "Be The Match" Night
BERKELEY - The Cal volleyball program will be holding "Be The Match" night on Friday, Oct. 14 in conjunction with its home match against Arizona State at Haas Pavilion.
The event will serve as an Organ Donation Awareness function, in honor of Cal redshirt freshman Savannah Rennie, who received a liver transplant in May.
"Savannah's story has made an impact on all of us in the Cal volleyball family," Cal head coach Rich Feller said. "Without organ donation, Savannah's future would have been in doubt, both on the volleyball court and in life. We want to make sure people are aware of the impact organ donation had on Savannah, and how it can save others' lives as well."
Rugby
Cal Kicks Off Fall Season At WCC7s
BERKELEY - Ready to open their competition account for 2016-17, the Golden Bears travel to the Central Coast for their first action since winning their fourth straight national 7s title as California competes at the West Coast Collegiate 7s Saturday, October 8, on Pennington Fields at Talley Sports Complex.
A four-pool, 12-team tournament that has the Bears slotted as the No. 1 overall seed, the WCC7s will send Cal against USC at 11:20 a.m. and Santa Clara at 12:20 p.m. in Pool 1 (all times Pacific). The other pools' top seeds at the WCC7s are No. 2 overall Saint Mary's, which is joined by UC Davis and Grand Canyon University in Pool 2; No. 3 overall UCLA, which takes on San Diego State and US Santa Barbara in Pool 3; and No. 4 overall seed Arizona State, which will play Cal Poly and Stanford in Pool 4.
Field Hockey
Football
Cal's Webb thrives in new environment
The birthplace of counter-culture is a long way from tiny Prosper, Texas.It took some getting used to, but Davis Webb has adapted just fine to a new environment and a new team in Berkeley, California.
Webb, a Texas Tech graduate transfer who replaced Jared Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, at quarterback, has led the California Golden Bears to a surprising 3-2 record, with consecutive upsets over ranked teams for the first time since 2009.
Webb leads the nation with 2,143 passing yards and 22 touchdowns.
He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after throwing four long touchdown passes in a 28-23 victory over then-No. 18 Utah.
Webb is thriving in a spread offense he's familiar with from his days at Texas Tech, where he threw for 5,557 yards and 46 touchdowns is 23 games (14 as a starter).
But to say a stroll down Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue, where the interchange of ideas and arts, along with the aromas of shish kebob and the occasional whiff of marijuana that fill the air, is a bit different form Prosper, a sleepy middle class suburb of about 10,000 where Webb grew up, would be an understatement.
"Culture shock? Yes, a little different than Dallas, Texas or Lubbock, Texas, and at the same time I've embraced it," Webb said.
"This has probably been the best experience of my life, just being here has really allowed me to embrace the culture ... and just kind of grow up as a man and be more mature. It's been a great experience."
Cal is perfectly positioned to be the Pac-12's spoiler team
BERKELEY, Calif. -- One by one, the seconds ticked away, dwindling toward zero as Utah, trailing 28-23, approached the California goal line.
Golden Bears coach Sonny Dykes had all three timeouts at his disposal. With the Utes churning forward, Dykes could've used them -- at least as a fail-safe to preserve some time on the clock just in case Utah did score to take the lead. Given Cal's track record of explosive offense and equally porous defense, that might've been the expected strategy.
But the clock just kept ticking.
Dykes, the offensive guru, didn't call timeout. He pushed all of his chips to the middle of the table -- putting the game squarely on the shoulders of the Cal defense.
"[Defensive coordinator] Art [Kaufman] told me, 'We're going to get this. We're going to hold them out. I think we'll put the pressure on them if we play it out this way,'" Dykes said. "He was right."