Arizona volleyball was unable to gain a victory while being in the Bay Area falling to University of California, 3-2. The Wildcats hoped to bounce back after being swept by the Stanford Cardinal on Friday, Sept. 29, but the Golden Bears came to the court with full force. 

The Golden Bears took the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-20, leaving the Wildcats in a tough position to come back. Junior outside hitter Kendra Dahlke had eight kills in set one, while redshirt freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Shelton came out swinging at the start of set two, with four kills in the first eight rallies. 

The Wildcats won set three convincingly, 25-15. Freshman outside hitter Paige Whipple, who has seen limited action thus far in conference play, had three kills in the set. Arizona didn’t stop their momentum going as they won set four, 25-22, forcing the pivotal fifth set. It was a battle between the Golden Bears and the Wildcats, but in set five Cal jumped out to an early lead, led by senior outside hitter/opposite Antzela Dempi, and never looked back. The Golden Bears took the winning the set, 15-11 and the match, 3-2.

Errors have been a frequent problem for the Wildcats so far this season, and in the fifth set Arizona had seven errors, accounting for about half of the Golden Bears points in the set.

Dahlke had another strong showing, posting a season high of 19 kills for the second time this season to bring her total kills up to 123. Sophomore setter Julia Patterson had a career-most of 58 assists for the ‘Cats.

Arizona now sits at a 7-6 record and will head back to McKale Center to look to bounce back on Wednesday, Oct. 4 as they take on UCLA.

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