Bears fight hard until elimination in Pac-12 Championships, conclude season
Karen Chow/File
The Bears concluded the most promising year of Cal beach volleyball in school history this past weekend at the Pac-12 Championships in Los Angeles. The Bears clawed their way through the competition, fighting for every point and leaving all of their effort on the sand. Ultimately, Cal ended the tournament as fifth in the Pac-12, marking a successful end to its strenuous, successful season.
The tournament started last Thursday afternoon with heated competition against No. 9 Stanford. As the Bears and the Cardinal had gone back and forth in earlier contests this season, the gravity of this match was clear to Cal.
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Cal beach volleyball completes its regular season, moves on to Pac-12 Championships
Al Sermeno/KLC Fotos/Courtesy
In its last meet before the Pac-12 Championships, No. 10 Cal beach volleyball came out of an action-packed weekend with a 1-2 record. Though they put their best effort forward, the blue and gold fell to both No. 8 Grand Canyon and No. 5 Loyola Marymount but bounced back to defeat San Jose State in their last match of the tournament.
To begin the weekend, the Bears headed across the Bay to the Stanford courts to face off against Grand Canyon University for the first time this season.
Cal wins Pac-12/WCC Challenge in convincing fashion
Al Sermeno/KLC fotos/Courtesy
The Bears hopped on the Stanford sand courts this past weekend for the Pac-12/WCC Challenge and took first place in the tournament by a convincing margin, finishing the weekend with a 3-1 record.
No. 12 Cal began the weekend with a morning match against No. 11 Pepperdine. All of the Bears’ pairs came with their own energy, but sophomore Ainsley Radell and junior Jordan Polo’s win on court two drove the day’s success.
After Radell’s final point secured the first win of the day for the Bears, the rest of the duos followed in her footsteps and performed skillfully.
Cal exacts revenge on rival Stanford in otherwise frustrating weekend
Karen Chow/File
No. 12 Cal beach volleyball has been progressing through its season with a solid record and fiery competitive edge. With just under a month left in their season, the Bears traveled down to Phoenixfor the Pac-12 North Invitational tournament at Grand Canyon University.
This unique weekend pitted Cal against three teams it hadn’t yet played in this season, No. 2 USC, No. 20 Arizona State and No. 9 Arizona. The blue and gold also got to face No. 10 Stanford for the second time this year.
Overall, Cal came out of this weekend with a 1-3 record, making it one of the more difficult stretches in the Bears’ season thus far. That said, the team did manage to defeat its archrival Stanford, which ended a difficult weekend on a high note.