#1 Cal Volleyball Sweeps Non-Conference Play, Awaits #2 Stanford

The Bears capped off another successful weekend, winning all four matches of the Hilton Garden Inn Classic without dropping a single set. (In fact, they haven’t dropped a set yet this season) Not that the 30-0 set record was never in doubt, as the Bears had to come back on several occasions and twice the set had to be taken into extras, and were won 26-24.

In the finale against Georgetown, senior Tarah Murrey led the match with 12 kills and earned herself MVP honors for the tournament. Shannon Hawari and Kat Brown also made the all-tournament team with Murrey.

After the jump, some quotes about the game and a look ahead to a huge matchup.

Here are some quotes from Cal Volleyball Head Coach Rich Feller, courtesy of this Daily Cal Article:

"On learning how to play together…“Part of why we played 10 preseason matches was to get our communication skills better, to feel what it’s like to play together more,” Feller said. “In volleyball, because it’s such a small and confined space, who’s next to you really matters, and it takes some time to get used to that.”On working on the offense…“We’re going to throw a few more tweaks in the offense as we get better at passing, and we’ll show a little different side of us,” Feller said."

Of course, nonconference play did not face any real challenges, with the road game against Virginia being the only matchup against a team that cracked the top 100 in RPI last season. The real challenge comes in conference play, where much like football and basketball, there really isn’t a single gimme among the schedule. It doesn’t start off easy either as tommorow the Bears will match up against rival and (UPDATED SINCE POST FIRST PUBLISHED) #2 ranked Stanford at home in the Big Spike. One of the biggest matchups of the season, this game should go down to the wire and if you have free time on your hands Tuesday night you should definitely go. It’s free for students and as low as $3 for everyone else. Get down to Haas Pavilion and root on your Bears, they’ve earned it!