TUCSON - Fourteenth-ranked Arizona volleyball won three consecutive sets after dropping the first against California on Friday night at McKale Center, defeating the Bears for the third consecutive time (22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-15).
"It was a tough match for us,” said head coach Dave Rubio. “There was a little bit of a hangover from Wednesday's match against Stanford. I knew it was going to be tough for us to get back into the match and ready to play. Fortunately, we were able to switch gears in game two. Penina (Snuka) moved all over the place and refused to let us lose. It's great to learn how to win these kinds of matches when it's tough. I'm proud of my team for how they handled themselves tonight."
Three Wildcats recorded double-digit kills in the match, led by Kalei Mau, whose 19 kills were just shy of her sixth 20 kill outing in eight matches.
Arizona's middle blockers were terrific, turning in their best combined effort of the season. Halli Amaro had a season-high 14 kills on a career-best .591 hitting. The senior added two block solos and four block assists in the outing.
Fellow middle McKenzie Jacobson tied a season-high with 12 kills, doing so on .550 hitting. Jacobson was in on five of Arizona's 11 blocks.
Penina Snuka recorded her second consecutive double-double (47 assists, 16 digs) and helped engineer the offense, which hit .306, its highest in a conference match since hitting .345 at Cal on Nov. 9, 2014.
"I think everyone is mentally drained,” said Snuka, of playing the fourth conference match in eight days. “We have been going hard for two weeks straight now and it's not really hard to get excited for games like Stanford, USC and ASU. To play Cal, everyone just wants to get through it, and go through the movements. That's when the discipline comes in. We just have to stay focused and stay focused on the task at hand."
MacKenzie Kleespies led the Wildcats' defensive efforts, digging 17 balls, one more than Snuka's 16. Mau posted 10 digs to record her fifth double-double of the year.
Paced by an incredible .500 hitting percentage, Cal took the opening set 25-22. The Bears committed just one hitting error while Arizona committed nine. Mau led all scorers with seven kills in the set.
Cal carried the momentum from its first set victory into a quick start in the second. Cal led by as many as four and held off a pair of Arizona rallies to take a 21-19 lead. Arizona ended the set on a 6-0 run to even the match at one set apiece heading into the break.
Arizona scored nine of the first 10 points in the third set, but the Bears would chip away and cut the Arizona lead to just three at 18-15. That would be as close as Cal would come as Arizona ran away with the third set, 25-17.
Up Next: The Wildcats hit the road for four matches beginning in Washington. Arizona takes on the Huskies on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. before heading to Corvallis to take on Washington State on Friday, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. MST. Both matches will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Arizona Volleyball: For further coverage of Arizona volleyball, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow the team's Twitter and Instagram accounts (@ArizonaVBall).
