Cal takes first set against North Carolina 25-15. (I only saw the last few points on the livestream)
If the stats are to be believed (and after the Fort Collins fiasco, I wonder) - Cal hit 400.
Kills; Haynes 6, Mirkovic 5, Hueszinga and Rennie 3 each, and Potter with 2(!)

The livestream is an above the court and behind the service line - so an interesting angle!

UCI Livestream

back and forth in set #2, but Cal has inched out to a 14-10 lead and Carolina calls time.

Cal now leads 21-14 after a Mirkovic kill from behind the line - she's still serving.
Cal hitting 429 for the set - UNC at 172

And a second set win 25-15!

Haynes now with 10 kills; Mirkovic and Rennie with 6; Huizenga with 5; Anderson with 3 and Potter still with 2.
Potter with 22 assists; Blevins also has played a bit.
Mirkovic with 8 digs; Smith with 9.

Cal out to a 12-7 lead in the third and Carolina calls time.

And, that's the match. Cal wins the third 25-13.

Haynes with 14 kills
Rennie with 10 - and 9 digs, so she just misses a double
Mirkovic with 9 - and 11 digs, so she just misses another double
Huizenga with 7
Anderson with 6
and Potter stays with 2 for the match.

Potter finishes with 36 assists. Blevins had 1.

Cal hits 453 for the match. Carolina - oof - 0.079

Next up: UNLV Saturday morning.
(Any errors due ti livestats!)

Oh, UNLV lost to Irvine today:
UNLV was 2-1 before today, with five set wins over Northridge and Portland, and a 3-1 loss to Weber State.

UNLV summarized the teams this way:

UC Irvine: The Anteaters are winless after the first week of play, going 0-3 at the Oregon Classic with losses to Oregon State (3-0), No. 11 Oregon (3-0) and Boston College (3-0) ... The Anteaters were picked to finish fourth in the Big West this season after third-place showing (10-6 BW, 16-13 overall) one year ago ... The Anteaters returned eight letterwinners from last year's squad, including All-Big West honorees Loryn Carter (First Team) and Abby Marjama (Freshman of the Year).

>California: The Golden Bears are undefeated after the first week of play, going 3-0 at Colorado State's Ram Volleyball Classic with wins over Oklahoma (3-0), CSU (3-1) and Chicago State (3-1) ... The Golden Bears were picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 after a 10th-place showing (7-13 P12, 15-16 overall) one year ago ... The Golden Bears returned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention performers Mima Mirkovic, Preslie Anderson and Lauren Forte from last year's squad.

>North Carolina: The Tar Heels are winless after the first week of play, going 0-2 at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge against No. 3 Minnesota (3-0) and No. 5 Wisconsin (3-0) in Chapel Hill ... The Tar Heels were picked to finish fifth in the ACC this season after tying for 14th (4-14 ACC, 8-19 overall) one year ago ... The Tar Heels returned four starters and their libero from last year's squad.

Here is the link to the calbears.com writeup:

https://calbears.com/news/2019/9/6/volleyball-bears-sweep-north-carolina-improve-to-4-0.aspx


GO BEARS!

Oops. Tuned it late - early in second set.
Cal takes the first set 25-14
Trailed early in second set, but then inched out to lead - took a few set point tries, but prevail 25-19.

Livestats says Cal hit 450 in first but only 229 in second. UNLV only hit 111 and 108, respectively.

LiveStats shows a balanced attack:
Mirkovic, Anderson and Forte each with 4 kills
Haynes, Rennie and Huizenga each with 3 kills
Blevins with 11 assists and Potter with7

and a Bears win in the third 25-18.
Mirkovic just misses a double with 10 kills and 9 digs. (seems like she plays every point)
Forte with 7 kills. (Crosson seems to know when she should play)
Potter played the third and finishes with 20 assists - Blevins with 11 for the match

Bears hit 448 in the third.

One more match tonite against UCI, but we'll be at bar watching the football game.

Go Bears!

The Bears VB team is off to an excellent start. Not sure how good the competition is. Nonetheless, they are playing very well and hope this translates well in PAC-12 play. Go Bears!

I have had problems watching the game. Only got the stats.

Gkhoury2325 said:

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The Bears VB team is off to an excellent start. Not sure how good the competition is. Nonetheless, they are playing very well and hope this translates well in PAC-12 play. Go Bears!

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Colorado State and Oklahoma were considered good early tests - the UCI group, based on prior performances, less good. But, you have to play the game on the court - not in the preview posts.
This week, the Bears will be able to rest up a bit more before the nightcap, unlike last week.

Thanks for the info. They seem to have been tested a bit. A lot of good schools. Hopefully they continue to progress, win tonight and enjoy the week.

Irvine beat UNLV but lost to Carolina.
So, Carolina beat Irvine, but lost to Cal.
UNLV lost to both Irvine and Cal.

Cal had little trouble with UNLV and Carolina, but Irvine will have had a full day off before tonite's match.

Bears win 3-0 against UC Irvine! Great start to the season!

https://calbears.com/news/2019/9/7/volleyball-cal-improves-to-6-0-with-saturday-sweep-in-irvine.aspx

Cal Improves To 6-0 With Saturday Sweep In Irvine

IRVINE, Calif. California volleyball swept through the second day of the UC Irvine Invitational on Saturday, taking straight set victories over UNLV and host UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center.

The Bears defeated the Rebels in the first match of the day 25-14, 25-19, 25-18 and finished the nightcap with a 25-17, 25-12, 25-15 victory over the Anteaters.

With the two victories Saturday, California improved to 6-0 for the first time since 2013. Redshirt senior and current Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week Savannah Rennie led the Bears with nine kills in 10 swings (.800) against UC Irvine, while junior Mima Mirkovic added 11 kills and eight digs. Senior Maddie Haynes tallied seven kills to give her 27 finishes over the three-game tournament.

"Overall I saw some great progress in certain positions throughout the weekend," Cal head coach Sam Crosson said. "Maddie (Haynes) had another outstanding performance, not only tonight against Irvine, but all weekend. We're starting to be smarter in terms of our decision-making, when to attack and be aggressive and when to reset. I'm pleased that we're processing scouting report information and we are executing game plans. Our serving was consistent over the course of the weekend, and especially tonight, we caused a lot of problems."

UC Irvine (1-5) tried to mount a comeback in the third set, closing within 18-15, but Cal answered with back-to-back points to end the run and force the Anteaters to take their last timeout. The Bears extended the run of their own out of the timeout, scoring the next five points to put away the match with seven unanswered points.

The Bears totaled 40 kills to 27 for the Anteaters and hit .446 compared to Irvine's .128. Cal notched 36 digs to 23 for the Anteaters.

In the first match of the day, Cal held the Rebels (3-3) to just two leads throughout the morning. After UNLV led 6-4 in the second set, the Bears scored nine of the next 12 points to take a 13-9 advantage and didn't give up the lead the rest of the way.

Mirkovic came up just short of her second double-double this season, finishing with 10 kills and nine digs. Maddie Haynes turned in her second career-best in as many days, tallying four service aces against the Rebels. Sophomore and 2018 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team member Lauren Forte had her best performance of the season, finishing with seven kills and five block assists.

"I thought (Isabel) Potter and Jade (Blevins) were really good over the course of the day," Crosson said. "Against Irvine Potter made a lot of good decisions and put her attackers in a lot of good positions, but she can't do that without passing and first contact. Overall I think this group is progressing really well. As a collective group they are approaching every match as if it's the only match and biggest match of our season. We're starting to understand the right mentality."

Cal had 37 kills compared to 31 for the Rebels, out-hit UNLV .357-.083 and won the battle at the net with 10 blocks, while UNLV totaled four.

Up Next: California travels to Fargo, North Dakota for the last non-conference tournament of the season. The Bears open play with Buffalo on Friday, Sept. 13 at 10:30 a.m. PT.

UCI is not good. They couldn't pass to save their lives. Cal had them out of system the whole match. Having said that, Cal is doing what they need to in order to win. This is a solid Cal team which I predict will do ok in the conference, but won't be able to hold a candle to Stanford because of the talent gap. I hope they'll prove me wrong there.