Aztec Volleyball Opens 2025 Season at California Tournament

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State volleyball team begins its highly anticipated 2025 season this weekend when it travels to the Bay Area for a pair of non-conference matches at the California Tournament, Aug. 29-30, at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, California.

The Aztecs commence tournament play on Friday when they square off against the host Golden Bears in an early-evening clash, beginning at 6 p.m. PT, before locking horns with San Francisco on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Both matches will feature live stats, while Friday’s encounter with Cal will air live via subscription basis on the ACC Network.

Following this weekend’s tournament, SDSU travels to the Lone Star State for the Flo Hyman Classic, Sept. 4-6, in Houston, Texas, where the Aztecs will battle the host Cougars, LSU and Omaha on successive days.

OPENING SERVE
> San Diego State’s record stands at 25-24 in season openers since the program attained varsity status in 1976. The Cal Tournament represents the Aztecs’ sixth season-opening event on the road in the last 11 years, following the 2015 USF Invitational in San Francisco, Calif., the 2019 FGCU Homewood Suites Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., the 2021 Sam Houston Bearkat Invitational in Huntsville, Texas, the 2023 Rose City Showdown in Portland, Ore., and the 2024 Bengal Classic in Pocatello, Idaho. Additionally, the Scarlet and Black opened an abbreviated 2021spring slate with a pair of conference matches at UNLV after the 2020 fall schedule was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
> SDSU emerged victorious in its season opener last year, sweeping host Idaho State in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-18) at the Bengal Classic. The Aztecs maintained the statistical edge in most categories, including kills (42-37), hitting percentage (.291 to .190), digs (42-36) and team blocks (9.0 to 7.0) to raise their record to 3-0 in the all-time series vs. ISU.
> Among returners, Amber Keen led all players with a career-high 13 kills, committing just three errors on 20 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage, while Taylor Underwood also reached double figures with 10 non-returnables of her own.

SERIES RECORDS
> San Diego State owns identical 6-2 records in both all-time series against California and San Francisco. 
> However, the Aztecs have fallen short in their most recent meetings vs. the Golden Bears and Dons.
> The Scarlet and Black dropped a narrow decision to Cal in three sets (20-25, 23-25, 23-25) at the SDSU Invitational to open the 2022 campaign. 
> Despite maintaining a narrow 38-37 edge in kills and a 7-4 spread in service aces, the Aztecs were plagued by 25 attack errors, posting a .121 hitting percentage on the night.
> Conversely, the Golden Bears owned a decisive advantage in team blocks (12.0 to 5.0) and totaled just eight errant attacks, finishing with a .358 efficiency to help key their victory.
> Additionally, the teams combined for 36 ties and 20 lead changes in the see-saw affair.
> The Aztecs have two remaining holdovers from that match, as Sarena Gonzalez topped the squad with 16 assists, while Madison Corf tied for team-high honors with seven kills.
> San Diego State has not faced San Francisco since the 2015 season opener when the Scarlet and Black was dealt a 3-0 defeat (18-25, 14-25, 20-25) at the USF Invitational. 
> The Dons stymied the Aztecs in that contest, maintaining the upper hand in hitting percentage (.323 to .041) and team blocks (9.0 to 3.0).
> SDSU has battled 12 of 18 teams in the current volleyball alignment of the Atlantic Coast Conference, maintaining a collective 31-17 record against the league. 
> Besides conference newcomers Stanford (10-9), Cal (6-2) and SMU (2-1), the Aztecs hold a 5-1 advantage against Pittsburgh while owning an unblemished  3-0 mark against Syracuse. 
> In addition, the Scarlet and Black has played Notre Dame (1-1) and Clemson (0-2) on two occasions each while squaring off in single encounters against Florida State (1-0), Louisville (1-0), NC State (1-0), Wake Forest (1-0) and Miami (FL) (0-1). The Aztecs have never faced Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia or Virginia Tech in program history.
> SDSU last played an ACC team in 2016 when it dropped a 3-0 decision to Notre Dame at the Art Carmichael Invitational in Kingston, Rhode Island.
> The Aztecs have met 11 of 12 teams in the current configuration of the West Coast Conference, posting a combined 88-103 all-time record against that circuit.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
> California placed 12th out of 18 teams in its first season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024, posting a 7-13 mark in league play and a 15-17 record overall. The Golden Bears registered a 6-6 ledger at home last season and a combined 9-11 record in road/neutral matches. On July 31, Cal was picked to finish 14th in the ACC preseason coaches poll. Individually, outside hitter Peyton DeJardin leads the Golden Bear returners after launching 305 kills (2.68/set) a year ago, followed by middle blocker Mikayla Hayden (172 kills, 2.12/set), who paced Cal regulars with a .324 hitting percentage, which ranked 10th in the ACC, while finishing second on the team with 63 blocks. Hayden is joined at the net by Sawyer Thomsen, who topped the squad with 111 blocks, while fellow middle Sophie Scott is back in the mix after missing the 2024 campaign due to injury. Elsewhere, defensive specialist Sophia Johnson is expected to anchor the Bears’ back row after collecting 282 digs (2.47/set) in spot duty last season, while setter Natalie Lau returns to direct Cal’s attack after averaging 9.61 assists per set (942 overall), which ranked fourth in the conference. As a team , the Bears were slotted second in the ACC with 15.19 digs per set a year ago but ranked just 15th out of 18 schools with 2.04 blocks per set. Offensively, Cal finished 13th in the conference last season with a .194 hitting percentage and an average of 12.18 kills per set. The Bears are led by head coach Jen Malcom, who enters her second season in Berkeley after serving as associate head coach at UCLA in 2023. Prior to her move to the West Coast, Malcom spent seven years on the coaching staff at her alma mater Iowa State from 2016-22, working the final four seasons as associate head coach on the Ames campus.

> San Francisco was slotted fifth in the West Coast Conference last year with a 10-8 mark in league play and a 17-13 ledger overall. The Dons compiled a 7-4 record at home and a combined 10-9 mark in road/neutral contests. USF ended the 2024 campaign with a three-match winning streak, highlighted by a five-set thriller over San Diego on Senior Day, marking the program’s first victory over the Toreros in 11 years. Despite the late flourish, USF was pegged for an eighth-place finish in the WCC preseason coaches poll released earlier this month. Individually, outside hitter/right side Astrid Puig returns as the Dons’ top defensive and offensive threat after totaling 90 blocks and 266 kills, which ranked second and third on the squad, respectively. USF must replace setter Aylen Aylub, a second-team all-WCC performer who ranked third in the conference a year ago with an average of 9.02 assists per set, along with libero Jolei Akima, who finished fourth in the league with a team-best 3.96 digs per set (479 overall). Collectively, the Dons were slotted second in the WCC last season in blocks (2.49/set) and hitting percentage (.233) while occupying the fourth position in digs (14.33/set) and the sixth spot in kills (12.52/set). USF is guided by fifth-year head coach Diogo Silva. With a professional career spanning nearly 20 years, Silva was a highly acclaimed opposite hitter playing in his native Brazil, as well as stops in Italy, Turkey and Argentina.

TOURNAMENT CONNECTIONS
> California assistant coach Andrew Sato is the nephew of Aztec Hall of Fame member Liane Soto, a two-time U.S. Olympic competitor who won a bronze medal at the Barcelona Games in 1992. Liane Sato played two seasons at San Diego State, leading the Scarlet and Black to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 1985 and 1986. In 1985, she set a single-season school record with 1,725 assists.
> SDSU opposite hitter Natalie Hughes and San Francisco libero Abby Wadas both hail from McKinney, Texas. The two players faced one another in high school in the bi-district round of the 2021 University Interscholastic League 5A Regions 1 & 2 playoffs. Hughes’ McKinney North team defeated Wadas’ Independence High squad in five sets to advance to the area bracket. A junior in that match, Hughes posted 13 kills and two solo blocks, while the senior Wadas finished with 25 digs and seven assists, according to MaxPreps.
> SDSU freshman setter Bella Jones and USF freshman libero Kayla Ostovar faced one another as prep players, with Jones’ Redondo Union High team and Ostovar’s Mater Dei squad splitting four matches between 2022 and 2024. Last season, Redondo Union swept Mater Dei in a non-conference home match (25-20, 25-19, 25-17) before the Monarchs turned the tables with a four-set triumph (22-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-19) in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs.
> San Diego State libero Rylie Sengdara and USF right-side hitter Hannah Taylor played against each other on different teams during the 2024 campaign before transferring to their respective schools. As a senior at Saint Mary’s, Taylor totaled 14 kills and five blocks in the Gaels’ 3-1 triumph over Sengdara’s Cal State Fullerton squad at the Titan Invitational. A freshman in 2024, Sengdara appeared in one set during that match but did not record a statistic.