Even though her sister didn't play, UA sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy may have earned family bragging rights for a year with her career night during the Arizona volleyball team's sweep of the Golden Bears.

Behind Abernathy's career-high 24 kills, Arizona (11-12, 5-7 Pacific 10 Conference) upset California (19-3, 10-3) in Berkeley Saturday night. Despite having played No. 1 USC, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Stanford and No. 10 Washington, Cal had only lost twice before Friday's match ÷ but it took USC and UCLA five games to beat them.

After losing to Stanford 3-1 Thursday, the Wildcats had a meeting about the frustrating defeat. It apparently paid off. Arizona has now swept three of its last four matches.

"Before the match, I felt like we were going to play well," head coach Dave Rubio said. "We were so disappointed in ourselves from the Stanford match. We felt like we missed an opportunity. We felt pretty determined to play better. It was a great win for us."

Abernathy, who for the second time this season led the UA in kills, did so with a .588 hitting percentage. She had 19 kills with a .455 hitting percentage against the Cardinal.

Rubio said he can't recall the last time one of his Wildcats put together fantastic back-to-back performances as Abernathy did.

"Jennifer had an absolutely remarkable weekend," Rubio said. "It was pretty remarkable. She was the difference for us. That's obviously one of the reasons for our recent success."

Jennifer's sister, Gabrielle, a junior outside hitter for Cal, sat out what was Arizona's 11th straight win in Haas Pavillion with a stress fracture. Jennifer had been suffering the same injury, and, though Jennifer claims to be OK, Rubio said he wasn't sure if she was completely over it.

UA sophomore outside hitter Kim Glass added 15 kills, 12 digs and eight blocks as the Wildcats hit .421 as a team and limited the Golden Bears to a .177 average. Arizona freshman opposite hitter Kristina Baum also had a career night with a season-high nine kills.

Junior libero Kelli Mulvany, who had a season-high 21 digs in the loss to Stanford, had a match-high 16 against Cal.

Rubio said the victory over California proves that the Wildcats, who rely on freshmen and sophomores with only one senior on the team, are mature enough to be able to bounce back from a tough defeat.

Freshman setter Stephanie Butkus had 54 assists against Cal, while sophomore middle blocker Bre Ladd and junior middle blocker Jolene Killough combined for 10 kills on 17 swings with no errors to go along with their eight blocks.

Arizona's record against top-10 teams improved to 3-5, with two more ÷ No. 8 UCLA and No. 1 USC ÷ visiting McKale Center this week.

The Wildcats host the Bruins (19-4, 10-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday and welcome the Women of Troy (22-0, 13-0) Friday. Both teams are fresh off sweeps of the Washington schools in Los Angeles.