Senior Weekend
BERKELEY -- California volleyball hosts Pac-12 leader, No. 7 Washington, in the season finale on Senior Weekend in Berkeley.
The Golden Bears and Huskies are set for a 6 p.m. first serve on Thursday, Apr. 1 at Haas Pavilion, followed by a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, Apr. 3. Saturday's match and Senior Ceremony prior to first serve will be available via Cal Live Stream with links to the stream and live stats available on CalBears.com. Thursday's match will have live stats only.
The young, shorthanded Cal squad is coming off a pair of losses to No. 16 Oregon last week in Eugene, falling by 3-0 scores. The Blue and Gold are led by freshmen Lydia Grote (Burbank, California) and Katarina Pantovic (Vancouver, British Columbia), along with senior Isabel Potter (Moline, Illinois). Grote leads the Bears with 194 kills and 43 blocks, while Pantovic is second on the team with 141 kills, playing in 18 of 20 matches this season. Potter moved into seventh all-time at Cal in assists on Feb. 19 vs USC, totaling 2,653 in her career with the Bears before being forced out of the setting role due to a broken finger suffered at WSU on Feb. 28.
The Huskies swept a weekend series with Stanford last weekend, winning 3-1 on Friday before taking Sunday's match in five sets. Washington leads the conference in hitting percentage at .260 and are second in kills with 936 as a team. Ella May Powell is second in the Pac-12 in assists, averaging 10.44 per set, while Sam Drechsel is fourth with a 3.74 kills per set average.
SISTER SISTER
Cal senior libero Jessica Houghton and freshman middle blocker Lydia Grote get a chance to catch up with family as the Bears host Washington at Haas Pavilion. Houghton's sister, Sianna, is a libero for the Huskies, while Grote's sister, Marin, is a middle blocker for UW.
GRO-T-ING UP QUICKLY
Lydia Grote got off to a strong start in her Cal career, collecting 18 kills on .654 hitting to go along with three blocks in her debut at then-No. 22 UCLA on Jan. 22. The 18 kills set a new mark for most in a freshman debut in Cal volleyball history and Grote's .654 attack percentage in the opener is the fourth-best in the conference this season with a minimum of 12 kills. The native of Burbank, California has recorded 10 double digit kill matches, including eight of the last 12 and leads the team with 194 kills and 43 blocks. Grote ranks fourth in the conference among freshmen in kills entering the last week.
KATARINA KAN
Freshman Katarina Pantovic recorded her first career double-double (15k, 12d) in Cal's 3-2 win over then-No. 15 Stanford on Feb. 12, the Bears first win in the series since 2011. Opening her Golden Bear career with a bang on the road at then-No. 22 UCLA to begin the season, Pantovic tallied 14 kills and nine digs to fall just short of a double-double in her collegiate debut. The Vancouver, British Columbia native is second on the team with 41 kills through the first 10 weeks of the season after recording a season-high 16 on Feb. 5 at Colorado. Pantovic set a new career-high with 13 digs on Mar. 5 against OSU as part of her second double-double along with 13 kills.
ACED
Cal was bolstered in its win over then-No. 15 Stanford on Feb. 12 with a strong performance from behind the service line. The Bears recorded a season-high 12 service aces, winning the battle from behind the line, 12-5. Isabel Potter tallied a match best five aces which is tied for most in the conference this season in a single match while Lydia Grote added a season-high three aces. Potter currently stands tied for seventh in the Pac-12 with 20 aces on the season.
MISSING PINS
2019 AVCA Pacific North All-Region and All-Pac-12 outside hitter Mima Mirkovic is opting out of the spring indoor season and the two-way athlete will play with the Cal beach volleyball team this spring. Mirkovic is a three-year starter for the Golden Bears and is just six kills away from becoming the 17th Cal volleyball player to reach 1,000 in her career. She plans to return in the fall and complete her indoor volleyball eligibility with the Golden Bears. Another outside hitter, Arizona transfer Katie Smoot, also decided to forgo the spring indoor season to play with the Cal beach volleyball program. She will also return to the team for the fall 2021 indoor season.
RE-SHAPING THE RECORD BOOK
Senior setter Isabel Potter is leaving her mark in the record book during her final season as a Golden Bear. The Moline, Illinois native moved into seventh on the all-time assists list at Cal on Feb. 19 vs USC. Potter recorded 34 assists against the Trojans to pass Joan Caloiaro's (2012-13) 2,552 career assist mark and now has 2,653 assists in her Cal career. Samantha Carter (2003-06) holds the all-time record at Cal with 5,771 career helpers.
YOUNG BEARS
Six of the 15 active players on the spring roster for the Bears are new faces since the team last took the court in November of 2019. The freshman class includes libero Tara DeSa (Mililani, Hawai'i), middle blocker Lydia Grote (Burbank, Calif.), libero Lexi Gruszczynski (San Clemente, Calif.), setter Kendall Jensen (Burbank, Calif.), outside hitter Katarina Pantovic (Vancouver, British Columbia) and opposite Sam Taumoepeau (San Diego, Calif.).
BELLA'S BACK
Cal gets a boost in the middle with the return of redshirt sophomore Bella Bergmark, who sat out the 2019 volleyball season. Bergmark participated in USA volleyball tryouts back in February 2020 and will see a lot of playing time with the departures of graduated All-Conference middle blockers Preslie Anderson and Lauren Forte. The Larkspur, Calif. native started eight matches as a freshman in 2018, playing in 38 sets. She recorded 36 kills and 21 blocks during her first season with the Golden Bears and made her presence known with seven total blocks (2s, 5a) against No. 8 Utah on Jan. 29, tied for the fourth-most in the conference in a single match so far this season. Bergmark is currently second on the team with 41 blocks on the season.
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