Page One

Cal downs Ducks for first Pac-10 victory

Daily Planet Wire Services
Sunday October 07, 2001

 

The University of California women’s volleyball team won its first Pac-10 match of the season, defeating visiting Oregon, 3-0 (30-23, 30-23, 32-30), Friday evening at Haas Pavilion.  

The Bears (5-5, 1-3) were led by sophomore Gabrielle Abernathy’s 12 kills, senior setter/outside hitter Candace McNamee’s eight kills and seven kills apiece from Reena Pardiwala, Leah Young, Camilla Leffall and newcomer Mia Jerkov. Jerkov, a standout player from Croatia, played her first match for the Bears after playing for the Croatian National Team for most of the fall. She also finished with seven digs and one block solo after coming in the match midway through game two.  

Leffall, a freshman middle blocker for the Bears, had an impressive .538 hitting percentage for the match (seven kills, no errors, 13 attempts). Oregon (8-7, 0-6) was led by junior Stephanie Martin’s 11 kills.  

Cal now has a five-match winning streak over the Ducks.  

The Bears controlled the first two games, but had to battle in game three. Oregon came back from a 26-17 deficit to tie the game at 28-28. The contest went back and forth from that point, with Cal finally prevailing when the Ducks Katie O’Neil had a service error and Leffall and McNamee finished the match with block assists.  

The Bears will next host Oregon State on Saturday and No. 7 ranked Arizona on Monday, with both matches beginning at 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.