The herd gave Cal a fight, but the power-5 school proved to be too much

The Cal Bears did not seem to bothered by the Fargo monsoon as they came in and took care of business on Friday night. The undefeated Bears swept the last three sets at Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse to take take down the green and gold.

The first set of the home opener nightcap displayed signs that it was going to be a tightly contested match. NDSU came in as a big underdog, but came out ready to battle. The two teams exchanged points for most of the first set, eventually coming to a 25-25 stalemate. The Bison were able to rally and take the next two points and go up 1-0 in the match.

The Bears Head Coach Sam Crosson must be a good a motivator, because Cal jumped on the herd early in the second set.  Cal took a quick 4-0 advantage before the Bison were even able to get on the scoreboard. The herd was then able to rattle off 5 straight points, the exclamation point of their run coming off a kill by Alexis Bachmeier. Unfortunately, it was all Cal for the rest of the set. The Bears would go on to tie the match up at one a piece with a 25-17 win.

The third set was nothing short of a fist fight as the points deficit for either squad did not exceed 3 points.  The Bears were ones left standing, winning the all important third set 25-22. The fourth and final set of the evening would be nothing short of domination by the Bears, taking the set and the match 25-16. 

NDSU Head Coach, Jennifer Lopez came out of the match relatively optimistic.

“You know the biggest thing you wanna do with any preseason schedule, is to play really good high-level competition, and so to be able to play against a team like that.  In our own facility, and they challenged us in a lot of ways, but it was competitive volleyball and that you gotta be excited about.” 

The Bison were able to show their heart on Friday. That Cal Bears team is legit, and anytime you can take a set from a team like that it is an accomplishment.