HONOLULU – The No. 10 California beach volleyball team opened up the Hawai'i Invitational with a pair of ranked wins Friday at Ching Complex in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The Golden Bears topped No. 16 Hawai'i 3-2 before downing No. 13 Grand Canyon 4-1 for their ninth straight victory.
 
The court-one pair of sophomore Emma Donley and junior Portia Sherman won both of the clinching points on the day. The duo is now tied for the all-time wins record on court one with 21 and has done so in a single season. Sherman reached an individual milestone as well with her 50th career victory.
 
The host Rainbow Wahine took a 1-0 lead and a 2-1 lead in the dual but both times the Bears answered the call with a counter punch to tie it. Tied at 2-2 the match came down to court one where Sherman and Donley came up clutch with a hard-fought two-set win.
 
In the dual with the Lopes, juniors Marilu Pally and Jenna Colligan got the Bears off to a great start bouncing back from a first set loss on court five and winning the final two frames. After GCU claimed court three to tie it at one apiece, senior Ella Dreibholz and graduate student Christine DeRoos had a similar outing on court four dropping the first set in extra point but forcing a tiebreaker. In the third set the two Bears trailed at 4-1 and at 11-8, but never quit, and capped off the match on a 7-2 run.
 
The court-two pair of graduate student Sierra Caffo and junior Gia Fisher went 2-0 on the day not dropping a single set.
 
Cal is back at Ching Complex tomorrow to take on the Lopes and Bows again. The Bears will face GCU at 3 p.m. PT and UH at 6 p.m. PT.
 
No. 10 Cal – 3, No. 16 Hawai'i - 2
1. Emma Donley/Portia Sherman (Cal) def. Amirah Ali/Alana Embry (UH) 21-19, 21-18
2. Gia Fisher/Sierra Caffo (Cal) def. Sarah Burton/Caprice Lorenzo (UH) 21-18, 21-18
3. Jesse Mann/Jasmine Wandeler (UH) def. Christine DeRoos/Ella Dreibholz (Cal) 23-21, 18-21, 19-17
4. Ella Sears/Alexandria Young-Gomez (Cal) def. Sophie Buschmann/Sydney Miller (UH) 21-12, 21-15
5. Sydney Amiatu/Kristen Serrano (UH) def. Marilu Pally/Jenna Colligan (CAL) 23-21, 19-21, 15-9
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
 
No. 9 Cal – 4, No. 13 Grand Canyon - 1
1. Emma Donley/Portia Sherman (Cal) def. Adriana Ferro/Ines Piret (GCU) 21-14, 21-18
2. Gia Fisher/Sierra Caffo (Cal) def. Becca Drake/Jessica Drake (GCU) 21-19, 21-16
3. Rhea Kohl/Katie Keefe (GCU) def. Ella Sears/Alexand Young-Gomez (Cal) 21-18, 21-14
4. Ella Dreibholz/Christine DeRoos (Cal) def. Karynn Garrow/Sophia Hladyniuk (GCU) 21-23, 21-16, 15-13
5. Marilu Pally/Jenna Colligan (Cal) def. Madi Bogle/Regan Holmer (GCU) 16-21, 21-15, 15-13
Order of finish: 5, 3, 4, 1, 2