BERKELEY – California beach volleyball interim head coach Derek Olson announced a challenging 2021 Beach Volleyball schedule on Wednesday. The Bears will play at least 14 matches against ranked opponents and eight matches against teams ranked in the top 10 in the preseason AVCA poll.
 
Coming off a 9-1 season that was cut short due to COVID-19, the Bears enter the 2021 season ranked ninth in the AVCA poll, but will look to solidify that ranking and a berth in the NCAA Tournament as they go up against a challenging slate of opponents. The Bears are scheduled to play a 27-match regular season that starts on Friday, February 26.
 
The Bears open the season by hosting Oregon and UC Davis at the Clark Kerr Sand Courts. It will be the only home match slated for the 2021 season. Cal will open their road-heavy schedule by heading to Los Angeles and Irvine as they will take on No. 2 UCLA and No. 8 LMU as well as Concordia.
 
The Bears then have a break in their schedule before heading north to take on UC Davis and No. 5 Hawaii in a midweek clash on the campus of UC Davis. The Bears will follow that with a weekend trip to Arizona for the Pac-12 South Tournament where they will take on No. 2 UCLA, Washington, Utah and Oregon.  That is the only scheduled trip outside the state of California until the NCAA Championships.
 
The Bears will face off with four ranked teams at the Pac-12 North Tournament hosted by Stanford in April. It will be one of four straight weekends where the Bears will travel to their Bay Area Rivals. The Bears will face Stanford four times during the month of April. In addition to a challenging slate of Pac-12 foes, Cal will also face off with No. 7 Grand Canyon and No. 10 Pepperdine in the last month of the season.
 
The Pac-12 Championships will be hosted by UCLA on April 29-May 1. The Bears will look to make their first career NCAA Championship appearance, as the top eight teams qualify to head to Gulf Shores, Alabama on May-7-9.
 
Cal Beach Volleyball Schedule
Fri. 2/26: vs. Oregon (at Cal) – 9 a.m. PT
Sat. 2/27: vs. UC Davis (at Cal) – 1 p.m. PT
Sat. 3/6: vs. UCLA (at UCLA) – TBD
Sun. 3/7: vs. Concordia (at Irvine) – 11 a.m. PT
Sun. 3/7: vs. LMU (at Irvine) – 1 p.m. PT
Tues. 3/23: vs. UC Davis (at UC Davis) - TBD
Tues. 3/23: vs. Hawaii (at UC Davis) - TBD
Sat. 3/27: vs. UCLA (at Arizona) – 8 a.m. PT
Sat. 3/27: vs. Washington (at Arizona) – 2:15 p.m. PT
Sun. 3/28: vs. Utah (at Arizona) – 9:15 a.m. PT
Sun. 3/28: vs. Oregon (at Arizona) – 3:30 p.m. PT
Sat. 4/3: vs. Cal Poly (at Stanford) - TBD
Sat. 4/3: vs. Santa Clara (at Stanford) - TBD
Sat. 4/3: vs. Stanford (at Stanford) - TBD
Tues. 4/6: vs. St. Mary's (at St. Mary's) - TBD
Sat. 4/10: vs. USC (at Stanford) – 8 a.m. PT
Sat. 4/10: vs. Arizona State (at Stanford) – 2 p.m. PT
Sun. 4/11: vs. Arizona (at Stanford) – 2 p.m. PT
Sun. 4/11: vs. Stanford (at Stanford) – 4 p.m. PT
Sat. 4/17: vs. Pepperdine (at Stanford) – 1 p.m. PT
Sat. 4/17: vs. Stanford (at Stanford) – 3 p.m. PT
Sat. 4/18: vs. St. Mary's (CA) (at Stanford) – 9 a.m. PT
Sun. 4/18: vs. Pepperdine/Stanford/St. Mary's (CA) (at Stanford) – 1 or 3 p.m. PT
Sat. 4/24: vs. San Jose State (at Stanford) - TBD
Sat. 4/24: vs. Grand Canyon (at Stanford) - TBD
Sun. 4/25: vs. Stanford (at Stanford) - TBD
Sun. 4/25: vs. San Jose State/Grand Canyon/Stanford (at Stanford) - TBD
Thurs. 4/29 - Sat. 5/1: Pac -12 Champs (at UCLA)
Fri. 5/7- Sun. 5/9: NCAA Champs (at Gulf Shores)