Senior Angie Pressey contributed a match-high 15 kills and also 10 digs to lead the Bears. Setter Carli Lloyd had 35 assists. California was making their first trip ever to the Final Four.

Penn State had three players in double figure kills, led by Nicole Fawcett’s 13. Megan Hodge had 11, while freshman Arielle Wilson had 10 kills on 11 attempts (.909 hitting percentage). Alisha Glass directed the offense with 41 assists.

Cal entered the match as the No. 6 team in the country (seeded No.10), while Penn State ended the regular season ranked No.1 in the nation. The Nittany Lions dominated every aspect of the match and ran away from the Bears after a tight first game.

“My hat’s off to Penn State,” said a red-eyed Rich Feller, California’s head coach. “That’s probably the best serving team we’ve seen this year. And normally, we’re the best serving team. That puts a team on its heels, and makes it hard to run any kind of offense. And with the block they have, it just compounds the problem.”

The Bears came into the game known for their strong blocking and dangerous serves, yet they were beaten at their own game. The Bears had only four blocks to 14.5 for Penn State.

“Penn State was running pretty fast at us,” said Feller of Cal’s poor blocking. “Maybe [we were] not making the right moves, not making the right reads.”

The match started out promisingly for the Bears, who stayed with the Nittany Lions for the first game.

Kat Reilly opened the scoring for Cal off a quick set by Carli Lloyd. The Lions then sent a message to Hana Cutura by blocking her attempt, pulling ahead 3-1. Cutura would struggle all game. Cal seemed nervous, but Pressey kept the Bears in it with a cut shot and an ace. After an Orchard ace, the Bears had pulled off a 6-2 run to tie the game at 10. At the first time-out, Penn State leads Cal 15-14 after Alisha Glass won the joust.

Ellen Orchard then found the hole in the Lion defense for 3 consecutive kills, and PSU’s Arielle Wilson answered with three of her own, pounding through the seam in the Cal block. When Pressey got denied on an attack from the 10-foot line, Penn State pulled in front 20-17, forcing a time-out from Feller.

PSU ran the lead to 23-18 on some terrific defense. Cutura’s serving brought the Bears back, and after a Hodge error, the Bears had climbed to 23-22. Penn State’s head coach Russ Rose called a timeout.

Pressey again stepped up, hitting through the seam and contributing a solo block. A block by Orchard and Morgan Beck brought Cal to 25-25.

The two teams traded points the rest of the way, with PSU taking the lead and Cal answering. At 28 all, Penn State’s Blair Brown slammed down a kill off a great set by Glass, and then Cutura made an error to end the game.

For the game, the Nittany Lions outhit the Bears .350 to .262. They also out-blocked the Bears five to two.

“They were in system more than we were,” said senior Ellen Orchard. “So we had a harder time. We hit right into them half the time.”

The Bears never seemed to recover from the lost tight game. At the beginning of game 2, the Bears continued to be stymied by Nicole Fawcett and Arielle Wilson. Each had two kills to push PSU out to 8-3 lead. All three of Cal’s points resulted from Penn State’s errors. Penn State, on the other, seemed ready for Cal star Cutura’s every move.

Pressey gave the Bears a glimmer of hope with a kill through the block and an ace to close it to 8-6. Penn State then pulled away with tough serving, forcing Cal errors to gain a 14-7 lead.

Carli Lloyd’s tough serving brought the Bears back to 15-11, and then it was Cutura’s turn. Ineffective on the front row, Cutura took something off her serve and found the hole in front of the Lion receivers to pull the Bears to 15-14.

The Nittany Lions kept Cal at arm’s length, and when Cutura and Lloyd let the ball drop right on the sideline, and the Nittany Lions led 23-17. The Lions demonstrated great ball control and maintained their lead at 26-20.

With Kristen Kathan serving, Angie Pressey went to work, tipping a kill after a long rally, then rolling a shot deep into the corner. A Kathan ace closed the gap to 26-23. But that was as close as Cal would get.

After a time-out, Penn State went to Nicole Fawcett, who put down three kills to close out the game, 30-25.

For the game, the Bears only managed to hit .121, while Penn State hit .424, committing only 3 errors on 33 attacks.

Cal made one last gasp, edging out to a 6-4 lead in game three. But with their confidence sky-high, the Nittany Lions roared back to take a 14-7 lead. But Penn State came roaring back, on the strength of Harmotto’s serve. 10-6 leads to time-out.

Penn State dominated the rest of the way, playing exceptional defense. Cal resorted to a variety of tips to neutralize the Penn State blocking game, but the Lions dug up everything in sight. They closed out the final game 30-16 and ended the careers of Cal senior Pressey and Orchard.

“You want me to cry, don’t you?” said Angie Pressey, when asked about the end of her career. Pressey then proceeded to let the tears flow. “The last point, I couldn’t breathe. It just hurts because it was just not our best game. Going out with your best, that’s one thing, but that’s just not us. Penn State did a really nice job, but I know that we’re more than that, and that’s what hurts.”

While disappointed, Feller was proud of what his team achieved. “This team went further than any Cal team in history, and we’ve accomplished so much this year. It’s a shame that every fairy tale does not have a happy ending. I’m so proud of these guys and these two seniors [Pressey and Orchard] right here carried us on their shoulders all season long. They took on a leadership role that we asked them to do from last January and physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually they grabbed this team and took them to the Final Four. I will always remember that.”

“We believed,” Feller added. “We worked hard every weekend. We tweaked practices and asked them to do more and more and when we pushed them, they accepted it. We did a lot of things that a lot of teams wouldn’t have been able to do.”

NOTES:

• In the other semifinal, Stanford and Southern Cal locked up in a Pac-10 deathmatch, with Stanford finally winning 3-2. Neither team could sustain momentum for long, and it all came down to the final few points, when Stanford’s shots hit the lines and USC’s balls sailed inches beyond. “Go Pac-10,” said Pressey. “[Stanford’s] our rival, but when it comes down to it, we want the Pac-10 to win.”

• 13,048 attended tonight’s matches at Sacramento's Arco Arena, the second highest figure ever for the semifinals of the NCAA Championships.

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