Volleyball Takes Down Cal in Four
BERKELEY – The Utah volleyball team moved to 3-0 (25-19, 23-25, 25-16, 25-11) on the season after beating Cal in four sets in Berkeley, California in Haas Pavilion.
Utah's defense was strong once again holding the Bears to a .082 hitting percentage while they hit .287.
Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres finished the match with 42 assists and the Utes had two players with double-figure kills. Dani Drews led the team with 17 kills and Kenzie Koerber had 13 kills. They both had double-doubles as well as Drews had 13 digs and Koerber had 11 digs.
The first set was close until Utah went on a 6-2 run to go up 17-11. Two more 3-0 runs by the Utes gave them a 1-0 lead in the match as they closed out the first set 25-19.
In the second set, Utah had a 20-17 lead, but Cal battled back to tie the score at 20. A few points later, Cal won three straight points to even the match up at one set each.
After dropping the second set, the Utes found themselves in an early hole in the third at 9-5, but really turned it on after that. They responded with a 7-0 run to go up 12-8. Utah held the lead the rest of the way and closed the set out with a 4-0 run to go up 2-1 in the match.
With the strong third set and a chance to close things out in four, Utah didn't mess around. The Utes went on a 10-1 run early in the set to go up 14-5. They didn't slow down from there closing out the set and the match 25-11 to move to 3-0 on the season.
In addition to Ka'aha'aina-Torres having 42 assists, she also had six kills, seven digs, an ace and a block.
Vanessa Ramirez finished the match with 12 digs.
Madelyn Robinson finished the match with nine kills hitting .333 and had five digs.
Utah and Cal will play one more time this weekend on Sunday, January 31 at 1 p.m. MT at Haas Pavilion.