The Bears will play No. 1 UCLA and No. 18 Cal Poly on Friday.
Berkeley – After a near-perfect opening weekend with 40 wins out of 41 sets, the California Beach Volleyball team will get its first taste of top-tier competition this weekend at Mapes Beach at the Battle for LA co-hosted by UCLA and Loyola Marymount. The Golden Bears (4-0) achieved a national ranking of No. 6 (True Valley) following last weekend's 5-0 home victory.
California will play its first road games of the year on Friday against the No. 1 Bruins at 10 a.m. PT and No. 18 Cal Poly at 2 p.m. The Bears will play Concordia University-Irvine at noon Saturday at 2 p.m. They will then play against LMU to close out the weekend.
Week 1 summary
It's the third time they've opened the season at home, and the Bears have safely gotten through the first four games of the year. They didn't drop a set on the first day, holding American River to single digits in eight of 10 games, before blowing out San Jose State again. The next day they got off to a fast start in every game.junior Ella Sears and Tulane graduate school transfer Kendall Peters The team won their first three-set victory of the season against St. Mary's 21-12, 22-24, 15-12 on Court Five. A few hours later, Cal comfortably won all sets against Santa Clara by at least four points.
golden debut
Cal's season-opening win was highlighted by seven different Bears making their program debuts.All three new transfers on the team – sophomores. finley rollins (University of California, Davis) and graduate students Lara Booth (LSU) and Kendall Peters (Tulane) – Sophomore also earned his first win for the program Amelia Vugrinčić and jenna corrigan and a new student emma donley and audrey riddle. 2nd grade Portia Sherman Although he saw limited action during his freshman campaign, he put in an outstanding performance in his first official game on the Clark Kerr Sand Courts, winning four games.
team
The Bears' 2024 roster includes 11 returners, three transfers, and four true freshmen.
In her first year as a Bear, Sierra Caffo established herself as one of the team's top players. The San Diego native led the team with 10 wins on Court 1 and a 24-12 overall record, earning AVCA All-America honors. This summer, she played as part of Team Her USA, which won a silver medal at the Norcheca Beach Championships with her former LSU teammate Ella Larkin.
Eva Mann and Brooke Buchner also return for their senior seasons. Buchner's .694 winning percentage and 25 total wins in 2023 are both the second-highest among UC returnees behind Alex Young-Gomez's .750 winning percentage and 27 total wins. Booth has the most proven resume of the team's three transfers, going 29-6 last year with seven wins against top-20 teams.
Rewind in 2023
In its 10th season, Cal won back-to-back games in nine games from March 4 to 12 in a six-game sweep, including four games. The Bears then defeated the then-number one Bears 3-2 on April 27, breaking the program's record for wins with 27. He finished third at USC and entered the NCAA Championships as the highest No. 8 seed in history. The final victory came in the opening game of the NCAA Championships, a 3-2 win over No. 9 seed Long Beach State. The next day, they lost 3-1 to No. 1 seed and eventual NCAA runner-up UCLA.
Bears in the ranking
Cal, which finished 2023 in 7th place in the final AVCA poll, entered the year ranked 8th in the nation, three spots higher than where it started before the 2023 season. After a week of action, the Bears are currently ranked No. 6 by TruVolley, No. 7 by CollegeBeachVB.com and No. 8 by the AVCA Coaches Poll.
schedule
This season, Cal will play all of the top 10 teams in the 2023 AVCA Final Poll and 13 of the 16 teams that qualified for last year's NCAA Championships. The Bears won't return to Berkeley until March 26 for a doubleheader against Feather River and Cal Poly. Senior Day will be on April 12th against Sacramento State.
CAL to join MPSF in 2025
Last November, it was announced that California Beach Volleyball would be one of seven programs to transition to the MPSF for its inaugural season in 2025. Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington and Grand Canyon make up the other six teams in the conference. California beach volleyball joins the Golden Bear men's and women's water polo and gymnastics teams at MPSF.
staff
Megan Owusu will be in her eighth season with the program in 2024. Under her leadership, the Bears catapulted into the national conversation in NCAA beach volleyball, finishing 2023 with a program-record 29 wins and her sixth top-12 finish. consecutive years.
Joseph Meyer is in his third season with the team. He became the program's first associate head coach last July, and Dancer Stiles was promoted to assistant coach. This coaching trio helped take Cal to new heights last year, winning its first NCAA Championship in back-to-back appearances.
Stay informed
For more information about California beach volleyball, follow the Bears on Instagram (@calbeachvb) and Twitter (@calbeachvb).
