BERKELEY – In the final match of non-conference play, the UC Davis women's volleyball team fell to California, 3-2, on Saturday at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif.
 
"Tonight was a hard-fought 5 set match for us," head coach Dan Conners said. "We gave a great effort. Proud of the grit and resilience that we showed throughout the match. We overcame deficits in every set. We had personnel changes that we needed to make, and we adapted well as a group. We built too big of a deficit in the fifth set to come all the way back, but I feel that we learned the lessons that we need to do to learn from this match. We will grow from it, and we will be better next time."
 
The Aggies nearly completed a reverse sweep against the Golden Bears, but ultimately dropped the final set by a score of 15-12.
 
UC Davis concludes their non-conference schedule with a 5-5 record. The Golden Bears improved to 7-3.
 
Sophomore Olivia Utterback led the Aggies with 12 kills while senior Josephine Ough added 11 kills in the effort. Ough recorded three block assists, giving her sole possession of third all-time in Aggies' total blocks leaderboard.
 
Freshman Haden Bones made her first appearance as a setter, recording a team-leading 33 assists. Freshman Victoria Vanos collected her first career kills as an Aggie, totaling three on ten attempts in the match.
 
Although the Aggies dropped the first two sets, they responded with important adjustments were able to take the next two sets with key contributions from their underclassmen.
 
The fifth set saw the Golden Bears go on a 6-0 run that eventually put them ahead 10-4 before a timeout by UC Davis. The Aggies strung together some momentum and a 4-0 run, but an overturned challenge gave Cal a 14-12 lead, which then led to the match point on the next play.
 
UC Davis hit .144 for the match compared to .211 for Cal.
 
The Aggies open conference play at home on Tuesday at 4 PM PT against UC Riverside.