STANFORD – The No. 9 California beach volleyball team earned its first ranked wins of the season Friday defeating both No. 16 GCU and reigning national champion No. 3 USC. The Golden Bears won both duals by a score of 3-2 on day one of the MPSF Midseason Rumble at Stanford.
 
Cal (9-1) had to battle in its back-to-back matches with top-ranked teams as six of the 10 matchups went to a third set.
 
The Bears got out to a hot start against the Lopes winning the first set on courts two and four, but with its back against the wall GCU forced two tiebreakers. The captain duo of graduate student Sierra Caffo and junior Gia Fisher fell behind in their third set 4-1 before going on a 14-3 run to give Cal the first point of the dual. Junior Jenna Colligan and graduate student Christine DeRoos trailed in their third set as well but grinded out a 17-15 win to make it a 2-0 contest.
 
GCU put a point on the board with a win at the No. 5 position but the court-one pairing of sophomore Emma Donley and junior Portia Sherman sealed the dual with a straight-set victory.
 
The Bears had roughly 10 minutes to regroup and refuel before taking the sand against a Trojan team that they had not defeated since the 2023 Pac-12 Championship, which also took place at Stanford.
 
Once again Cal came out firing and won the first two sets on courts four and two. Unfortunately, this time it was the opponent that found the strong finish as USC forced and won two third-set deciders to take a 2-0 lead in the dual.
 
Despite seeing a hot start fizzle away, the three remaining pairs did not shutter and instead rose to occasion and won all three matches in straight sets to complete the reverse sweep. USC had not lost a match in which it led 2-0 since the 2021 Pac-12 Championships.
 
Seniors Ella Dreibholz and Ella Sears dominated on court five to put the first dual point on the board and the court-three pair of senior Alexandria Young-Gomez and junior Marilu Pally followed suit winning its matchup handedly to tie the match at 2-2.
 
It would come down to court one where Sherman and Donley had already swiped the first set 21-15. The second set was a closer contest, but a late run granted the Bears the set, the match, and the dual. They were the sole pair to go undefeated on the day and did so in the top spot.
 
 
No. 9 Cal - 3, No. 16 Grand Canyon - 2
1 Donley/Sherman (Cal) def. Keefe/Ferro (USC) 21-11, 21-12
2 Fisher/Caffo (Cal) def. Kohl/Piret (GCU) 21-19, 16-21, 15-7
3 Garrow/Hladyniuk (GCU) def. Pally/Young-Gomez (Cal) 16-21, 20-22, 15-10
4 Colligan/DeRoos (Cal) def. B. Drake/J. Drake (GCU) 21-13, 18-21, 17-15
5 Bogle/Holmer (GCU) def. Sears/Dreibholz (Cal) 21-15, 21-11
Order of finish:  2, 4, 5, 1, 3
 
No. 9 Cal - 3, No. 3 USC - 2
1 Donley/Sherman (Cal) def. White/Henson (USC) 21-15, 21-18
2 Pater/Coakley (USC) def. Fisher/Caffo (Cal) 20-22, 22-20, 15-13
3 Pally/Young-Gomez (Cal) def. Thomas/Goellner (USC) 21-16, 21-16
4 Karl/Larkin (USC) def. Colligan/DeRoos (Cal) 17-21, 21-19, 15-12
5 Sears/Dreibholz (Cal) def. Hong/Horwath (USC) 21-15 21-11
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5, 3, 1