California Golden Bears Volleyball Team Sets Sights on National Title
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The seventh-seeded California volleyball team (30-3) will play for its first national championship when it faces fourth-seeded and three-time defending champion Penn State (31-5) in the 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship at the Sprint Center on Saturday, Dec. 18. The Golden Bears have not dropped a set in postseason play and will be led into battle by Cal's first-ever AVCA National Player of the Year in senior setter Carli Lloyd.
Match Notes
-- Cal will play in its first-ever NCAA championship match.
-- The Bears posted the highest single-season win total with their 30th victory of the year against USC in the NCAA semifinal.
-- Cal is 5-0 in televised matches this season.
-- The Bears have not dropped a set in postseason play this year.
-- Cal is undefeated in 3-0 matches (21-0) this season.
-- Senior setter Carli Lloyd is Cal's first-ever AVCA National Player of the Year.
-- This is the first time that Cal has had two AVCA first-team All-Americans in the same year; senior setter Carli Lloyd, and junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey.
-- The Bears have posted a better hitting percentage than their opponent in 31 out of 32 matches this year. They are 30-1 in those matches.
-- Cal's .312 hitting percentage this year would finish as the highest single-season mark in program history. The school record was set by the 2008 squad at .287.
-- Senior setter Carli Lloyd not only leads the team in assists (11.85 aps), she is second in digs (2.49 dps), and third in blocks (1.08 bps).
-- Junior OH Tarah Murrey is the third player in Cal history to log 600 kills in a single season. Her 601 ranks third behind Mia Jerkov (701 in 2003) and Hana Cutura (628 in 2009).
-- Sophomore DS/L Robin Rostratter's 479 digs this season rank fifth for single-season records at Cal. She needs one more dig to tie for fourth.
-- Sophomore MH Kat Brown's 146 blocks this year rank fourth at Cal for a single season.
-- Sophomore MH Shannon Hawari's .421 hitting percentage would be the highest single-season mark in Cal history. Her .387 percentage as a freshman in 2008 is currently tops.
-- Rich Feller is the 2010 Pac-10, AVCA Pacific Region and National Coach of the Year.
-- Penn State is the only team that has been able to knock off the Bears in NCAA play each of the last three years. The Nittany Lions are 3-0, all-time, against Cal.
-- The Bears are one of just three teams to have advanced at least as far as the NCAA regional championship match in each of the last four years. The other two squads are Texas and three-time defending champion Penn State.
