Grote's 11 Kills Lead Bears In Loss To No. 17 Cougars

Pullman, Wash. – California got 11 kills from Lydia Grote and battled to the end of the third set before falling 16-25, 13-25, 21-25 to No. 17 Washington State Sunday at Bohler Gym.   

Grote recorded 11 kills for the second straight match, and notched her fifth double digit kill outing of the season. Isabel Potter tallied 22 assists with five digs, while Katarina Pantovic added six kills for the Bears.

Cal fell to 1-11 on the season as WSU improved to 8-2 behind a match-high 13 kills from Magda Jehlarova.  

HOW IT HAPPENED
WSU had its foot on the pedal from first serve, taking an 11-2 lead that forced the first Cal timeout of the set. Answering out of the break, the Bears scored three straight on a kill, block combo from Grote, but six points was as close as Cal could get as the Cougars took the first frame.  

It was much of the same to start the second as Washington State got out to an 11-3 advantage before Cal cut it to a six-point deficit behind kills from Makana Meyer and Bella Bergmark. Penny Tusa built the lead back to 10 on a Cougar service run and the Bears couldn't recover despite three kills from Grote as WSU took a 2-0 lead in the match.

Cal showed a lot of fight in the third after WSU took a lead at 10-6. Pantovic and Grote recorded service aces to make it just a one-point game and Sydney Lilomaiava put down a kill to tie the set at 17-all. The Bears tied the set once again at 20-20 on Grote's 11th kill and made it 23-21 on a Meyer kill, but the Cougars scored the final two points to take the match, 3-0.  

UP NEXT
The Bears return to Haas Pavilion for a two-match series with Oregon State beginning Friday, March 5 at 2 p.m. PT.  

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