Cal Picked 11th in Preseason AVCA Poll

BERKELEY - California beach volleyball will open the 2022 season ranked 11th as the AVCA announced their Preseason Coaches Poll on Tuesday.
 
The top-12 ranking continues a streak of being ranked in the top 12 of every poll since April 23, 2018. The Bears have now spent 1395 consecutive days ranked in the top 12 of the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Bears have finished each of the past four seasons ranked in the top 12 of the final poll, including an 11th-place finish in the final poll of the 2021 season.
 
The Bears were also chosen eighth in the preseason Collegiate Beach Volleyball Preseason Committee Rankings released on Monday.
 
Last season, the Bears collected four wins over top-10 teams, equaling the amount of top-10 wins in program history prior to 2021. Cal finished the season with only one loss to a team that wasn't ranked in the top 12 as they played a difficult schedule.
 
Cal returns AVCA All-American Mima Mirkovic and All-Pac-12 Tournament performer Ainsley Radell. Ava Mann, who played for Team Canada at the U19 and U23 FIVB World Championship, returns as part of a talented sophomore class that includes Brooke Buchner, Maya Gessner and Grace Paulson.
 
The Bears will also welcome eight newcomers to the roster for the 2022, featuring AVCA All-American Ana Costa who transferred to Cal from Stetson. The Bears also welcomed transfers Natalie Martin (LSU), Lexi McKeown (Florida State) and Ashley Delgado (Tulane). The Bears boast a four-person freshmen class of Ella Dreibholz, Alena Korobko, Ella Sears and Alex Young-Gomez.
 
The Bears will be led once again by Cal alum Meagan Owusu. Owusu enters her seventh season in charge of the program in her second stint as she was rehired to her old post this past July.
 
Cal will begin the 2022 season on Friday, February 25 as they take on CSUN and LMU in Los Angeles. That will begin a challenging slate of games that will see the Bears play 13 teams that finished in the top 20 of last year's final AVCA poll.
 
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