The Arizona volleyball team defeated the University of California, Berkeley in five sets, getting the Wildcats back into the win column. The set scores of this match were: 25-13, 24-26, 22-25, 25-14, and 15-9.
Junior Jaelyn Hodge led the team in kills with 16, followed by junior Sofia Maldonado with 15 kills. The team totaled 57 kills. The match featured close sets, mainly in the second and third sets. However, the Wildcats dominated the other three sets.
Set 1 (25-13)
In the first set, Arizona came out fast taking a 4-1 lead over Cal. The Wildcats were playing excellently throughout the first set, limiting their mistakes and executing well-timed kills. Arizona closed out set one in dominant fashion finishing a 7-0 scoring run.
Set 2 (24-26)
The second set was a different story for the Wildcats as they started much slower to start this set. The Golden Bears Lydia Grote led her team in kills with six for the set. As Cal was able to edge out a second set win over Arizona, keeping the Wildcats at bay the entire set.
Set 3 (22-25)
Arizona was able to retake momentum at the start of the third set as they took an early lead of 10-4. Cal then responded with a 4-0 run to cut this lead, but Arizona did not let up. Keeping ahead of Cal until late in the set when the Golden Bears went on a 6-0 scoring run to retake the lead from Arizona. The Wildcats struggled to slow down Cal in this set resulting in the Bears pulling out the late set win.
Set 4 (25-14)
In the fourth set, Cal kept up the pressure on Arizona and took an early 3-0 lead. Arizona would then go on a game-shifting run which was led by the leaders of kills for Arizona Jaelyn Hodge and Sofia Maldonado. Arizona retook the lead at 11-5 and never looked back from that point on.
Set 5 (15-9)
Set five Arizona had full control of the match as they led early 9-4, but Cal was not ready to give up the match. They would respond with a 4-0 scoring run but it was not enough to close the gap on the Wildcats. As they closed out the set with a 5-0 run to win the match.
Arizona now sits two games over .500 at 15-13 on the season. The Wildcats look to build on this win as they face Stanford on the road on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m. MST.
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