Well said. Extremely proud of how the fought back. Coaching is making a difference

watching cal vs arizona. cal won first two sets. it was neck and neck in 3rd set, but late cal had too many service errors. i counted 5. and setter double. they were at 17 to 18. arizona won third set. i was watching oregon and washington, and the announcer said Cal has lost a pac 12 record 57 conference games in a row. hoping tonight cal can beat arizona and break that record. maggie li doing a great job.

And Cal races out to 13-3 lead in fourth and is barely threatened after. First conference win in forever. Go Bears!

woo hoo !! bears win. maggie Li 21 kills hit .340. sam had 14 but 11 errors. hamm, hayden played great. defense was really good, even in game their lost 20 -25. total service errors is 12. game 3 they had 6 or 7 service errors. clean up their service errors and they win game 3. maggie such a great player. even when the sets are off she can still hit. sam has more trouble if the set is not really good. she hit quite a few long. they ran more slides to the opposite with the middle players ellie and hayden since they set very few to ava. arizona took WSU to five at arizona so they are not a poor team. the coaching sure looks good. if they had grote they could be even better. they need another maggie next year. i feel the team has gotten better and better. they could have beaten utah and probably should have. they felt the pressure at the end of the match in game 5. Great job team and coaches. there is no way they should look for another coach if they continue to get better win or lose. now they need two real good hitters and an excellent libero through the transfer portal for next year. can Cal do it ?

DiabloWags said:

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Very nice half page article in the SF Chronicle on CAL VOLLEYBALL today.
Page B3

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thanks DW. dunno from newstands, but maybe this..?
> Jolted by coaching change, Cal volleyball ends 57-match Pac-12 losing streak
> Marisa Ingemi
> Sep. 30, 2023Updated: Oct. 1, 2023 12:23 p.m.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/cal-volleyball-ends-57-match-pac-12-losing-streak-18395164.php
/*****
Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd found herself inching closer to the volleyball court in Utah. It was 12 games into her coaching career, and Cal was a set away from its first Pac-12 win in three seasons.
One of the officials had to politely tell her to "turn it down a notch" before Jones Schoonderwoerd realized how intense she had gotten. The 26-year-old still has the fire that fueled her prestigious playing career, and it has helped lead Cal to a much-needed turnaround in a season that could have been doomed before it started.
Two weeks before the season, head coach Sam Crosson abruptly resigned.
"I did not have any information," Jones Schoonderwoerd said. "It was just sprung on (fellow assistant coach) Savannah (Rennie) and I. It happened very, very quickly. It was out of left field."
Since then, the Bears have won 12 of 14 matches under their interim coach's energetic guidance matching their victory total from the last two seasons combined. After nearly ending their 57-match Pac-12 losing streak against Utah, the Bears finally broke through Friday night against Arizona, winning in four sets at Haas Pavilion.
"I see this team that needs help and I felt I was a good fit," she said. "I knew that I wanted my first coaching position to be somewhere where I felt like I could make a difference, and this felt like the perfect opportunity.
"Now, it's an even bigger role, so I feel blessed for that."
The Bears (12-2) are off to their best start since 2019 when they won 10 games to start the season. Cal won 11 in a row to begin this campaign, and the win over Arizona was its first in the conference since beating Stanford on Feb. 12, 2021 its lone win in the pandemic-affected 2020 season.
"I've been here the longest, and I know how bad we need that," senior Sam Taumoepeau said when asked before playing the Wildcats how a Pac-12 win would feel.
Taumoepeau and the other upperclassmen decided at the end of last season that they didn't want to stand for another woeful season. That was before Crosson left.
Taumoepeau said a "vibe shift" happened under Jones Schoonderwoerd.
An All-American at Washington and beach volleyball All-American in one season at Cal Poly, Jones Schoonderwoerd reached out about joining the Cal staff at the beginning of this year and was hired as an assistant in February. She got to work organizing practices, and quickly the players related with her. She was the second player in NCAA history to earn All-America distinction in both indoor and beach volleyball; it wasn't difficult for players to buy in.
Crosson, who had led the Bears for three seasons, now coaches at West Valley College in Saratoga. He declined to comment when asked why he left Cal.
Given the coaching change, having any sort of success is its own sort of accomplishment for the Bears. The players credit Jones Schoonderwoerd for changing the entire feel in the locker room.
"Every day (Jones Schoonderwoerd) comes into the gym and brings positive energy," said Maggie Li, who has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week five times. "She asks how our day is going; it's not just volleyball questions."
This year's nonconference schedule was not overly challenging. The highest RPI of any team Cal faced was Texas State at No. 43, and only two are in the top 100 overall. Still, they're wins the Bears weren't close to achieving a year ago.
Circumstances depleted the Bears' talent in recent years. Top outside hitter Maddie Haynes graduated in 2020, and Mima Mirkovic committed to just beach volleyball during the 2020-21 COVID season. Lydia Grote, who transferred to Minnesota this season, was injured much of last season.
Grote's departure created an opening for Li, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter who has an element of star power the Bears need. A member of the U20 Chinese National Team, Li has more poise on the court than most underclassmen.
Crosson's mysterious departure added new adversity this season, but that's almost par for the course for Cal. Li's emergence and Jones Schoonderwoerd's stability have brought a feeling of joy that's been missing.
Also, of course, that burden-lifting conference victory.
"We're building and I think we've already been on a really positive trajectory," Jones Schoonderwoerd said. "We're trying to be better than ourselves. I'm really not sure how far this group can go, because I think I see a really high ceiling for us."
Reach Marisa Ingemi: marisa.ingemi@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @marisa_ingemi
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Crosson had four years 19, 20, 21, 22.
Li has not won Freshman of the Week five times. it's four.
Article omits the angle on Rennie who returns to the Bears.

But at least it's an article!

Based on the stats, neither team defended well. But, my hopes for this year was to maybe get to 500 overall and to win some conference games. Just need to be taking steps forward and seeing hope. To me, COVID really just just tore this program to pieces. That, and not making the tournament in Crosson's first year, when he couldn't coach around Mirkovic's injury.