Golden Medals: Cal Beach Volleyball beat Stanford; Lacrosse and Tennis open Pac-12 play with wins

Given the busy schedule, I can only pick and choose certain sports to highlight in this week’s post. I have also break down Cal Baseball and Softball’s pre-conference performance elsewhere on CGB before Pac-12 play starts this weekend for them.

Nevertheless, this is what’s happening on campus this weekend:

Go support your Bears in their natural environment!

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Cal Beach Volleyball win a close one over Stanford at The Farm

Cal Bears (7-1) continue to roll against all opponents that are not the top ranked UCLA Bruins. Last week, the Bears got 3 more wins, capping another successful weekend by edging rival Stanford at The Farm.

As the result, the 11th ranked Bears stay at No.11 in the rankings.

Playing two matches last Saturday, Bears had little problem against UC Davis, winning all 5 matches in straight sets.

No. 11 Cal 5, UC Davis 0

No. 1: Jordan Polo-Mima Mirkovic (Cal) def. Lauren Matias-Jane Seslar, 21-12, 21-12

No. 2: Caroline Schafer-Iya Lindahl (CAL def. Heather Reed-Josephine Ough, 21-9, 21-12

No. 3: Grace Campbell-Maddie Micheletti (CAL) def. Chelsea Maeglin Paloma Bowman, 21-17, 21-10

No. 4: Alexia Inman-Madison Dueck (Cal) def. Savanah Schroeder-Rose Holscher, 21-14, 21-10

No. 5: Mia Merino-Abby Waldburger (Cal) def. Ally Reyes-Alexa Rockas, 21-6, 21-6

Against Stanford, the top 2 pairs set the pace for an exciting meet. Cal’s No.1 pair of sophomore Mima Mirkovic and freshman Jordan Polo won a close one in 3 sets, but Cal’s No.2 duo of Caroline Schafer and Iya Lindahl fell few points short.

With the bottom of the lineup deciding the meet, Bears and Cardinal each won a match in straight set. Everything was on the line in the No.4 matchup, going into the 3rd set. Fortunately for the Bears, sophomore Alexia Inman and senior Madison Dueck took a lot of the suspense out by dominating their way to a decisive 15-6 3rd set win to give the Bears the victory.

No. 11 Cal 3, No. 13 Stanford 2

No. 1: Jordan Polo-Mima Mirkovic (Cal) def. Courtney Bowen- Sunny Villapando, 21-10, 19-21, 15-13

No. 2: Tori Ashkinos- Charlie Ekstrom (Stan) def. Caroline Schafer-Iya Lindahl, 17-21, 21-18, 15-12

No. 3: Morgan Hentz-Amelia Smith (Stan) def. Grace Campbell-Maddie Micheletti, 21-18, 25-23

No. 4: Alexia Inman-Madison Dueck (Cal) def. Maddie Dailey-Jordan McKinney, 21-15, 15-21, 15-6

No. 5: Mia Merino-Abby Waldburger (Cal) def. Shannon Richardson-Blake Sharp, 21-11, 21-15

Bears will next play from the sandy beaches of Hawaii this weekend. On the schedule include 6th ranked Hawaii, as well as Nebraska and Boise State in the Heineken Hawaii Invitational.

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Cal Track and Field at the NCAA Indoor Championships Recap

Three Cal Golden Bears competed at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships last weekend.

McKay Johnson finished 8th in the country in shot put. This is his 2nd consecutive All-American (top 8) honor at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field.

Tuomas Kaukolahti placed 7th in the men’s triple jump.

He set a personal record, that’s also good for 2nd best in Cal history.

Competing in the grueling heptathlon event over the two days, Tyler Brendel finished 14th (only 16 best are invited to the NCAA). That’s still good for an All-American Honorable Mention honor.

Brendel finished 2nd in the 1000m but 9th or worst in all 6 other events.

The Track and Field season continues with everyone competing outside now. In addition to dealing with the wind, some of the apparatus measurements are slightly different between the outdoor and indoor seasons. Nonetheless, expect all three of these Bears and more to also make a push at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field titles come May.

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Cal Lacrosse beats Oregon, loses to Colorado in opening weekend of Pac-12 play

Behind 3 straight road win, the Bears add another one to the winning streak when they defeated Oregon 12-7. This was merely the 3rd Pac-12 win in the history of the program - Pac-12 Lacrosse only became a thing in 2018, when the Bears could only managed two wins (one was against these same Ducks, the other was against ASU) in conference play.

Unfortunately, the winning streak is over two days later when the Bears faced a ranked Colorado squad.

Bears (4=5, 1-1 in Pac-12) will host rival (and 18th ranked) Stanford on Saturday at 5 pm PT.

The Pac-12 Network will have the action.

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Cal Men’s Tennis sweeps Pac-12 openers over the Arizona schools

Bears are climbing up the national ranking poll after pulling off two upset wins to open Pac-12 play last weekend.

Bears first beat No.21 Arizona 4-2. After taking the doubles point, Bears use their depth to win on courts 3, 4, and 5 to pull off the upset win from Berkeley.

Then, they got the same result over ASU. Bears actually were in a hole early in this one by dropping the doubles point and court 6. However, the rest of the Bears were not fazed. Winning on courts 1, 3, 4, and 5 gave the victory to the home Golden Bears.

Bears followed up these two wins with a pair of easy 4-0 and 7-0 wins over Pacific and SMC on the same day.

Cal Tennis finally has a winning record again in dual meet at 6-5. They will look to defend their Collegiate Title from last year at Indian Wells this weekend, where the pros are playing at the PNB Paribas Open.

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Cal Women’s Tennis beats Oregon in Pac-12 opener, now ranked 14th in the country

Also on the right track is Cal Women’s Tennis. Who have earned major ranking respects after nearly winning all 3 of the gauntlet that was Vanderbilt, USC, and UCLA two weekends ago.

Playing up in Eugene, Bears had an easy 5-2 win over the Ducks.

Bears won the doubles point and only lost a pair of 3rd set (one was a tiebreaker) in courts 1 and 4.

The 6-3 Bears will host Arizona on Friday and Arizona State on Saturday to continue Pac-12 play.

GO BEARS!