Nov. 27, 2005

BERKELEY, Calif. - The 12th-ranked California volleyball team earned its fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid on Sunday when the NCAA selection committee paired the Golden Bears (18-10) with Mid-Continent Conference champion Valparaiso (27-7) in a first-round match to be played at 5 p.m. CT this Friday, Dec. 2, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. If the Bears, who received an at-large selection to the postseason, beat Valparaiso, they would play the winner of the Wisconsin-Loyola (Ill.) first-round match in a second-round meeting at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday in Madison.

Cal has never played Valparaiso or Horizon League champion Loyola (Ill.) (13-17). Fourteenth-ranked Wisconsin (23-6), a No. 11 seed that received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, has a 1-0 advantage in its brief all-time series with the Bears.

"I'm happy with our selection to the NCAA Tournament," said Cal head coach Rich Feller, who has led the Bears to the postseason four straight times for the first time in school history. The previous Cal streak of three straight postseason trips happened twice: 2002-04 and 1987-89.

The 2005 Bears improved on their 2004 regular-season record of 16-11 heading into last year's tournament. This year's 18-10 overall record also gives Cal its fourth straight winning season and gives Feller an overall Cal record of 116-89 (.566 winning percentage) in seven years in Berkeley.

Several Bears had standout performances this year, including sophomore outside hitter Angie Pressey, who leads Cal with 420 kills and 4.12 kills per game, hit .250 (420k, 167e, 1014att) and was second on the team with 284 digs and 27 service aces. Cal senior outside hitter Jenna Brown was third on the team with 283 kills, hit .282 (283k, 103e, 639att) and ranked third on the squad with 85 total blocks.

Junior setter Samantha Carter, who this year became Cal's all-time assist leader, had another outstanding season with 1,346 assists and a team-high 37 service assists. Carter currently has 4,250 career assists. Junior libero Jillian Davis set a new Cal single-season digs record, with 499, and leads the Bears in digs per game (4.71).

Outside hitter Morgan Beck made a big splash in her first year at Cal, trailing only Pressey in kills (321) and in kills per game (3.24). Sophomore middle hitter Ellen Orchard was another standout Bear, leading Cal with 117 blocks (14 block solos, 103 block assists) and hitting .265 (219k, 74e, 548att). Senior middle hitter Alicia Powers hit .263 (265k, 101e, 621att) and was second to Orchard with 113 total blocks (14bs, 99ba).

A total of six Pac-10 teams - Cal, conference champ Washington, Arizona, Stanford, USC and UCLA - earned their way into the 2005 postseason, with Washington and Arizona receiving top seeds in their respective brackets.

This year's NCAA Tournament marks the first time during the current millennium that the Bears will play in the first round outside of the state of California. In 2002, Cal played the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Santa Barbara. The Bears hosted first- and second-round postseason matches in Berkeley the last two seasons.

Cal may have been in line to host in the first and second rounds this year. But losses to 13th-ranked USC and 16th-ranked UCLA this past Friday and Saturday, respectively, may have worked against the Bears. Conversely, the Trojans, as a No. 12 seed, and Bruins, as a No. 16 seed, are hosting in the first and second rounds of this year's tournament.

"You can see the seedings," Feller said. "If we had beaten UCLA, maybe we deserved to host, and considering they beat us, they are the ones who got that right. I can't feel bad about it. We had it in hands to host or not. We've got to believe that not getting a top 16 seed, we're pretty close to a top 16 seed.

"We get to experience something completely different. And we have one extra day to get out there. It's good we're not playing Thursday [as eight of the field's 64 teams are]. We have a chance to get ourselves ready. Valparaiso is a great team that won their conference hands down."

Valparaiso won the Mid-Continent Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by beating Oral Roberts, 3-1 (30-26, 30-28, 28-30, 30-15), in the conference tournament final on Nov. 20 in Valparaiso, Ind. The win gave the Crusaders three straight Mid-Continent Conference tournament championships to go along with three straight conference regular-season titles.

Valpo dominated its conference en route to a 13-1 regular-season conference record. Its lone conference loss this year, and its first conference loss since 2003, was a 3-2 (30-16, 28-30, 21-30, 30-26, 7-15) setback to Oral Roberts on Oct. 14 in Tulsa, Okla. The Crusaders ended their regular season with a 3-0 loss (25-30, 24-30, 27-30) to Marquette last night in Milwaukee, Wis. Valpo played just one 2005 Pac-10 opponent, losing, 3-2 (28-30, 30-21, 30-24, 24-30, 9-15), to UCLA on Sept. 16 in a tournament in Madison. Cal split two matches with the Bruins this season.

Sophomore outside hitter Amy Palash leads Valpo with 329 kills and 3.43 kills per game. Senior setter Katie Bova leads the Crusaders with 1,378 assists, 11.88 assists per game and 390 digs. Senior middle blocker Liz Mikos (157, 1.39 bpg) and junior middle blocker Jessie Fox (147, 1.29 bpg) rank 1-2 in blocks and blocks per game, respectively, for fourth-year Valpo coach Carin Avery.

Teams winning NCAA Tournament second-round matches will move on to regional play Dec. 9-10. Cal would play its regional at College Station, Texas. Next are the national semifinals on Dec. 15 and the national final on Dec. 17 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The University of Texas at San Antonio serves as host of the final four.