Nov. 8, 2007

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PULLMAN, Wash. -- The No. 7 California volleyball team defeated Washington State on the Cougars' home floor at Bohler Gym Thursday night with game scores of 30-16, 30-18, 30-28.

Hana Cutura and Morgan Beck combined for 21 kills to lead California (20-5, 10-4). Beck hit .600 and Cutura hit .400 as the Golden Bears hit .328 as a team. Kat Reilly, Ellen Orchard and Mindy Wiley each contributed four blocks as Cal out-blocked the Cougs 12 to 7. Carli Lloyd had 48 assists and Kristen Kathan had a match-high 13 digs. Cat Dailey and Beck both tallied three service aces.

Washington State (9-18, 0-13) was led by the 12 kills (.304) and three blocks from senior middle blocker Tara West. Junior Brittany Johnson added seven kills and three blocks, including a pair of solo blocks which moved her career total to 51 solo blocks, seventh-best in WSU all-time career standings. Johnson needs two more solo blocks to move into the seventh place in the Cougars history books. It was also a record-setting night for WSU sophomore Kelly Hyder as her nine digs put her career total at 1,001 digs, seventh-best in Cougar all-time digs standings. Maureen Perez had 26 assists and Jackie Albright tagged a pair of aces.

"I thought that Brittany Johnson and Tara West had really great nights," Cougar Head Coach Brian Heffernan said. "After game two our challenge for the team was to just be the very best that you can be whatever that is for our team. I thought Brittany and Tara really stepped up to that challenge and were attacking. I can't say enough about Kelly and Stephanie (Weishaar). They are in there and passing that ball and keeping us in system as much as possible. Against a tough-serving team, those two athletes don't get nearly enough credit as they deserve as defenders and serve-receivers. But they both did a nice job passing, defending and the service line."

"When you face a team like Cal they serve very aggressively so they kind of get you on your heels if you're not really in system service-wise," Heffernan continued. "The three outside hitters are so good and the two on the left side can really get up and crush the ball. When you have those hitters to deliver the ball to as a setter your job is pretty fun. They are super aggressive and block very well. They are the number one blocking team in the conference right now. They have great physical size and if they get you out of system, you're in deep yogurt because they have some really big hands in front of you."

Washington State faces No. 5 Stanford Friday night in an 8:30 p.m. match at Bohler Gym. Fans who bring their basketball ticket stub from the 6:30 p.m. WSU men's basketball game versus Eastern Washington at Beasley Coliseum Friday, get free admission to the WSU versus Stanford volleyball match.

No. 7 California (20-5, 10-4) def. Washington State (9-18, 0-13) 30-16, 30-18, 30-28
KILLS - CAL 54 (Cutura 11), WSU 28 (West 12)
HITTING PERCENTAGE - CAL .328, WSU .038
ASSISTS - CAL 52 (Lloyd 48), WSU 26 (Perez 26)
DIGS - CAL 43 (Kathan 13), WSU 37 (Hyder 9)
BLOCKS - CAL 12 (Orchard 4, Reilly 4, Wiley 4), WSU 7 (West 3, Johnson 3)
SERVICE ACES - CAL 8 (Dailey 3, Beck 3), WSU 2 (Albright 2)
Attendance:  439.