NCAA Tournament begins for No.7 Cal Beach Volleyball and No.10 Women's Tennis
Both of these Cal teams are capable of pulling off a few upsets to win an improbable first NCAA national title in their program history in 2024
In the 2023-24 school year, Cal Athletics has already got one team (Men’s Water Polo) and four individual (all from Men’s Swimming) national championships. This continues the streak of a Cal national championship, skipping the recent COVID year with only the fall championships, of winning at least an individual or relay or boat or team national championship to a nice and round 50 years (it is not a coincidence that this streak coincides with Title IX being signed into law in 1972).
Several Cal programs will be competing for the (mostly NCAA) national championships in the coming weeks.
The postseason begins today (Friday, May 3rd) for No.7 Cal Beach Volleyball as one of 17 teams at the NCAA Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Likewise, No.10 Cal Women’s Tennis is hosting the first two rounds while seeking to be the one out of the four teams in the Berkeley Regional from the NCAA Tournament Field of 64 to advance to the Super Regional round. Much more on these two teams below.
Coming up after that, Cal Women’s Golf in the final season of longtime head coach Nancy McDaniel, who has been named to the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024, will play in the Las Vegas Regional on May 6-8. Seeded 5th in the Regional, Cal will look to be one of the five teams to advance out of the field of 12. The NCAA Championships will take place in Carlsbad, CA on May 17-22, consisting of 30 total teams and six individuals (top finishers not on an advancing team) from the six regionals.
Taking place in Berkeley next weekend (May 10-12) is the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships. Third-seed Cal may be the best challenger to spoil No.1 UCLA’s perfect season so far. Cal is coming off an MPSF Championship final loss to the Bruins but nearly upset them just a couple of weeks earlier in the regular season contest in Berkeley. Cal Women’s Water Polo is seeking to win the program’s first national championship.
After falling just short of host Arizona State for the Pac-12 title, No.22 Cal Men’s Golf will play in the Rancho Santa Fe (CA) Regional on May 13-15 just outside San Diego. Cal is the 4th seed in the field of 14 teams, where the top five teams will advance to the NCAA Championships also in Carlsbad, CA on May 24-29. The Men’s Championship will also be 30 total teams and six individuals (top finishers not on an advancing team) from the six regionals.
Finally, after not playing any rugby 7s tournament in the last few years nor this past fall, Cal Rugby will compete in the 2024 College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) Men’s 7’s National Championship from Spartanburg, South Carolina on June 1-2. The full field of that tournament has not yet been announced but Saint Mary’s College, who ended Cal’s 15s season and will play Navy this weekend for the 15s national championship, will be sending a squad there.
No.7 Cal Beach Volleyball vs. No.10 Long Beach State
Friday, May 3rd, noon PT ESPNU (WatchESPN)
When the NCAA added Beach Volleyball as a new sport a decade or so ago, they tried their hardest to avoid it becoming a regional West Coast sport (like water polo, for example). The smaller original NCAA field of eight included at least three teams from the East. They also opted to hold the NCAA Championships in Alabama’s Gulf Shorer every year. There was also the temporary rebranding of the sport as “Sand Volleyball” before reverting back to Beach.
Yet only UCLA and USC have won the NCAA championships thus far, both when it was a double-elimination format that favored the better teams and the current single-elimination format that could have more upsets.
The recent expansion of the NCAA Championships to 16 and this year, 17 teams, has allowed many more West Coast teams, including Cal, to participate in the NCAA Tournament. The current climate of student-athletes transferring has also seen many California players returning to the state after spending one or two years at Florida State, Louisiana State, and other East Coast schools.
California Golden Bears (20-11) will be playing in their 3rd consecutive NCAA Championships this weekend. Cal won their first NCAA tournament match last year when they edged Long Beach State 3-2 in the first round before falling to rival UCLA. They have a very similar path in 2024 with a first-round rematch against Long Beach State and UCLA looming in a potential second-round rematch.
The full bracket is shown below.
The way that Beach Volleyball duals are decided is simple. Five matches are being played simultaneously, first team to win three of them takes the dual. Each of the matches is decided by the first pair to win two sets. The first and second sets are played to the winner getting 21 points if the margin is by two or more. The deciding third set is only to 15 points, with the same win by two or more points rule. Given how outside elements like wind, etc. often decide a points here or there, it is kind of surprising how many duals do come down to one match being decided by a mere two points in an extended 3rd set.
There has been more parity across collegiate beach volleyball in recent years. Cal earned the program’s first win over USC last year but is still seeking their first win over UCLA. USC, winner of five of the seven NCAA titles, including the last three, is the top seed. UCLA, winner of back-to-back titles in 2018-19, is the second seed.
https://twitter.com/NCAAVolleyball/status/1786021276974297143
Cal is coming off a slightly earlier-than-expected exit in the Pac-12 tournament when they got upset by host Arizona State. Despite being seeded above Long Beach State, the AVCA Coaches Poll got Long Beach State (25-7) at 7th and Cal at 8th.
While the Cal lineup has been in flux all season long due to solid program depth and internal competitions, one would expect head coach Meagan Owusu to roll out the same lineup as in the Pac-12 Tournament.
https://twitter.com/CalBeachVB/status/1786115272698482765
The top pair for the Bears is senior Sierra Caffo and junior Alexandria Young-Gomez. Caffo was on the opposite side of the net when LSU ended Cal’s season in the 2022 NCAA Tournament First Round. Since transferring to Cal, Sierra Caffo has improved to be a top pair mainstay for the Golden Bears. Alex Young-Gomez only moved up to the top pair about midway through the season. This pair has a 6-3 record in 2024. Possibly due to her national team workload in the offseason, Caffo has had some load management on most weekends where she is rested against the weaker competitions. The record of Young-Gomez paired with freshman Emma Donley being 6-0 as the No.1 pair is consequently rather deceiving.
Caffo and Young-Gomez have both earned AVCA Second Team All-American honors this season. Caffo is also named to the All-Pac-12 first team while Young-Gomez is on the All-Pac-12 second team.
At the No.2 court is the pair of freshman Emma Donley and graduate student Kendall Peters. Peters is a graduate transfer from Tulane. This pair only has a 2-1 record this year, but that included the most recent match when they won. Emma Donley has earned All-Pac-12 second team and Pac-12 All-Freshmen honors.
Gia Fisher and Marilu Pally are the second most experienced pair this year. This sophomore pair is 11-5 on the year with a 6-0 record as No.2 (again, perhaps deceiving because they might have only moved up when Caffo is out in those easier contests) and 5-5 as the No.3 pair.
The most experienced pair of Portia Sherman and Ella Dreibholz, who went 18-4 playing as the No.4 or No.5 pair, was recently broken up for the Pac-12 tournament. The junior Ella Dreibholz was paired with graduate student Lara Boos in the Pac-12 tournament. Boos is another transfer from LSU. This new pair is 2-1 on the season. Sophomore Portia Sherman was paired with fellow sophomore Jenna Colligan in the Pac-12 tournament. The Sherman/Colligan partnership is 3-0 on the year, all from the 5th spot in the lineup.
Portia Sherman was mic’ed up in the very fun video below. She basically confirmed that she will pair up with Jenna Colligan again.
Of course, given the non-optimal result from the Pac-12 tournament, maybe the lineup and pairing will be shaken up yet again before the first-round match against Long Beach State. Cal has not played Long Beach State yet this season.
Cal has reached as high as No.6 in the national rankings before a few late-season losses dropped them to the 7/8 range.
In last year’s broadcast on ESPN, Cameron Institute’s Dr. Graig Chow got some shoutouts for his work with the team. I believe Cal Women’s Gymnastics has also credited Dr. Chow in interviews for developing their toughness.
The surprising 2-3 loss to ASU in the Pac-12 tournament has tempered my expectations a little bit. While I can imagine Cal pulling off a second-round upset win over UCLA and bettering last year’s result by a round, they also need to get past Long Beach State first. Then again, Cal Beach Volleyball is also just a mere four wins away from a national championship.
No.10 Cal Women’s Tennis vs. Sacramento State
NCAA 1st Round: Friday, May 3rd, 2 PM PT, LIVESTREAM
10th-ranked and seed Cal (18-6) is hosting Sacramento State (20-7), No.17 Auburn (16-10), and No.42 BYU this weekend to decide who will survive to advance to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Sweet Sixteen (recently rebranded as a Super Regional). The Super Regional will be against the winner of the Athens Regional hosted by 7th seed Georgia. The winner of the Super Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Golden Bears are coming off a Pac-12 Championship title loss to rival Stanford (No.2 seed in the nation) but also a semifinal upset win over UCLA (No.8 seed in the nation).
Four Bears have earned NCAA individual championships berths: Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika in the 32-pair field for the NCAA Doubles Championship and Viller Moeller, Valentina Ivanov, and Katja Wiersholm earned spots in the 64-player field for the NCAA Singles Championships. The two individual championships will compete on May 20-25 after the conclusion of the team championships but also from Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Similar to Beach Volleyball, a tennis dual is decided mostly by the results of the six singles matches. They all account for one point apiece. Before the singles start, three doubles matches are played, each only one set long. The team that wins two of the doubles takes the doubles point. The first team to earn four points wins the dual.
https://twitter.com/CalWomensTennis/status/1784328393447948737
Looking back again at the most recent outing (Pac-12 championship final), Cal’s doubles lineup is No.18 Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika (25-11), No.56 Jessica Alsola and Valentina Ivanov (16-5), and Berta Passola Folch and Katja Wiersholm.
https://twitter.com/CalWomensTennis/status/1784340633928585516
For the singles, Hannah Viller Moeller has rightfully earned her top spot after starting her collegiate career as the No.5 or No.6 singles player. The senior from Denmark is 22-21 this year and ranked 41st in the country.
At No.2 singles is No.52 Valentina Ivanov. The senior from Australia who represents New Zealand internationally in Fed/Billie Jean King Cup was a former No.1 singles player for the Bears. Ivanov is 16-9 on the year and ranked 52nd.
Junior Jessica Alsola is playing No.3 singles now. Alsola also had experience playing as the No.1 singles player in the past. She has a record of 24-17 and is ranked 82nd.
Mao Mushika has earned her spot in the singles lineup in recent months. The Japanese freshman is 27-8 on the year.
Lan Mi, a junior transfer from Cornell, is holding down a spot at No.5 singles. She is joined by Spanish sophomore Berta Passola Folch at No.6 singles.
Surprisingly missing from the singles lineup is junior Katja Wiersholm. Wiersholm (25-6) is ranked 44th in the country to be invited to the NCAA Singles but not featured in the singles lineup during the Pac-12 championships.
With two recent arguably one-sided losses to rival Stanford in the Big Slam and then the Pac-12 title match, one could question if the Cal Bears are capable of upsetting a higher-ranked team. Before that could be answered, Bears need to protect homecourt and earn a spot in the final 16.
I like the experience and depth of this team to believe that they will have another long run in the postseason. All of the top three Cal Bears could upset anyone else in college in any given match. It would not be a surprise if Cal would exceed their seed slightly to make it to the final 8.
GO BEARS!
The problem with these dual matches (both beach volleyball and tennis) is that it's hard to follow. It's also always interesting how the results on one court does impact another.
Cal vs. Long Beach State: Cal has taken the first set in 3 of 5 matches. Bears won the first sets easily on three court, but Long Beach State won the two closest sets on courts 1 and 3 (AKA the ones shown on ESPNU).
Even though Cal lost in today’s round of eight dual with UCLA, it’s cool we have an all-CA final four (Cal Poly upset fourth seeded Florida St.).