Digging in: Cal gets 2 wins, 1 loss at SDSU tournament
Cal’s first opponent of the SDSU tournament, Army, surely did not see this one coming.
Starting the 2022 season off on the right foot, the Bears swiftly took down Army during the first set with a final score of 25-16. Army came back during the second match, though, and ripped that victory away from Cal with a 17-25 set. Regardless, Cal showed persistence and resilience as it dominated the third set, demolishing Army 25-13.
The fourth and final set between the Bears and the Knights had everyone on the edge of their seats. Although the Bears gained many points due to Army’s errors, Cal did have many standout plays. Eventually, the set resulted in Cal’s 32-30 victory.
Later that day, the Bears faced San Diego State. Kicking things off strong for Cal, junior Lydia Grote dominated the first set with 10 kills on a .643 hitting percentage. With both teams performing well, the set seemed to be moving slowly — neither team scored more than 3 points at a time. Cal claimed the set 25-20.
The slow energy from the first set carried over into the second.
A variety of errors from the Aztecs seemed to be the only thing helping the Bears stay in the game. Grote maintained her momentum into the second set and came in hungrier than ever to post seven more kills as well as two straight service aces. Finishing things off, Grote ended the set with a 25-23 win for the Bears.
Despite a 5-0 scoring run early on from the Aztecs, the Bears took advantage of the many errors from the opposing team in the third set. They fought tirelessly, snatching the set from San Diego State with 25-23.
The final game of the tournament against UC San Diego, however, didn’t turn out in Cal’s favor. With both teams coming off of wins from the previous day, their momentums clashed to give fans a thriller of a match.
Cal’s consistent fight wasn’t enough to take down the Tritons as the first set ended 22-25 in favor of UCSD.
The second set tells a very different story. Cal put together its best show of the day and was able to conquer the Tritons 25-13.UCSD was not to be doubted as it once again took the third set 22-25 despite Cal’s efforts.
Things were looking good for the Bears coming into the fourth set as they began with a 6-0 run and followed that up with two service aces from Kendall Jensen. Cal was able to take the fourth set 25-20, tying at 2-2.
Despite strong efforts from the Bears, the Tritons sealed their victory in the fifth and final set, handing Cal its first loss of the season.
“Both had really successful weekends for their first time out with us, especially as freshmen,” said head coach Sam Crosson about players Peyton DeJardin and Mikayla Hayden in an interview with The Daily Californian.
Both DeJardin and Hayden have proven themselves as forces to be reckoned with, already on the top five leaderboard for kills — 18 from the former and 13 from the latter.
Looking ahead, the Bears will be heading off to the Utah Valley tournament later this week. Having learned a lot from the SDSU tournament, fans can expect the Bears to perform well against both teams.
“Even though it was a loss, (we) came away with some positives that we’ve been working on in practice and during our fall training,” Crosson said.
Utah Valley should prove an interesting opponent, as it kicked off its 2022 season with a 1-3 record. The same could be said for Northern Arizona, another competitor against Cal this weekend, as it started off the season with a 1-2 record.
Addressing issues seen in the SDSU tournament and improving on them, hopes are high for the Bears heading into the tournament.
Jose Rivera covers volleyball. Contact him at jrivera@dailycal.org.