This weekend, the Bears will be migrating out of Bear Territory and into a familiar southern territory — Los Angeles. Cal will be facing long-time rivals USC and UCLA on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Coming off of a tough few weeks consisting of minimal wins, the Bears will be ravenous for victories and undoubtedly give their all on the court.
Even when Cal recently lost to powerhouse No. 6 Oregon and the speedily improving Oregon State, it showed unprecedented grit by forcing Oregon State to four sets and Oregon to an impressive five-set battle.
The last time these teams met, Cal was struggling in some key areas. While the Bears matched the Bruins with four aces, they failed to maintain their defensive consistency and were thus unable to activate their offense.
However, Cal has been working on improving in these areas for many weeks now, a determination that has shown on the court in its recent defensive performances against powerhouse teams like Oregon.
“I think one of our strengths this weekend was just our defense and our scrap and hustle,” said senior outside hitter Sam Taumoepeau. “Our serving has been doing a lot of good work for us, we’re getting teams out of system and that’s just helping our block and defense to make easier plays.”
Indeed, the Bears will also need to improve their hitting around the block if they want to beat UCLA, as the Bruins have an impressive roster of aggressive middle blockers.
“Last time we struggled with serving in terms of just errors, so we also want to make sure our servers are super tough,” Taumoepeau said. “UCLA has great middles, and they’re great at blocking and hitting, so we want to keep them out of the equation.”
In particular, Cal will need to watch out for redshirt senior middle blocker Anna Dodson, senior outside hitter/opposite Iman Ndiaye, sophomore outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette and graduate middle blocker Desiree Becker, who all contributed to UCLA’s recent victory against No. 9 Washington State — a team that the Bears recently lost to.
“We need to hit a lot better against UCLA this weekend for us to win,” Taumoepeau said. “I think our offense needs to find a consistent flow out there, kill more balls in good situations, make smart plays in tough spots—so I definitely think we need more offensive production.”
As for its last game against USC, Cal switched up completely to gain a well-deserved win on excellent defense, solid serve-receive and offensive strength. If the Bears can replicate and build off of their last performance against the Trojans, they may just break their losing streak.
Although USC recently lost to Washington State too, the Bears will still need to watch out for some key Trojan players. These will be senior outside hitter Skylar Fields, who led with an intimidating 29 kills against the Cougars; freshman outside hitter London Wijay, who’s been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week four times; and sophomore middle blocker Tyrah Ariail, who recorded nine kills and five blocks.
Plus, USC’s junior setter Mia Tuaniga totaled an impressive 55 assists, 10 digs, four kills and two blocks, demonstrating an impressive well-roundedness. Sophomore libero Gala Trubint will be a defensive force, as she just led with 22 digs and has had 18 double-digit dig counts this season.
So long as Cal stabilizes its serve-receive and allows its offense to shine, the Bears could put up a good fight against their southern California rivals.
