As it headed into a highly-anticipated contest between two top-10 teams, the No. 6 Stanford women’s volleyball team expected “The Big Spike” last Friday to provide for an excited crowd at Maples Pavilion.

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Outside hitters Kristin Richards, senior, and Franci Gerard, junior, helped defeat Cal on Friday. Richards finished the match with 13 kills. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6295
Grant Hochstein

Outside hitters Kristin Richards, senior, and Franci Gerard, junior, helped defeat Cal on Friday. Richards finished the match with 13 kills.

Cal 0

Stanford 3

What the Cardinal (13-2, 4-1 Pacific-10 Conference) didn’t expect was an easy victory that would lead to cheers of “overrated,” from the zealous crowd The chants were directed at No. 7 California (14-2, 3-2 Pac-10), who looked wholly overmatched, falling to Stanford in a three-game rout, 30-20, 30-22, 30-21.

Sophomore Cynthia Barboza and senior Kristin Richards, both outside hitters, each collected 13 kills. Junior setter Bryn Kehoe led the team with 12 digs, and sophomore middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo nailed seven blocks. The Bears’ Angie Pressey contributed 13 kills to her squad’s effort.

For Barboza, the evening marked her first full match against the Bears since her season-ending ACL tear at Haas Pavilion last season.

“Last year, I would have considered tonight a victory if I could walk on the court,” she said. “But I’m okay, and I’m happy I made it through my first Cal match.”

After dropping the first two games, the Bears came out of halftime eager to stage a major rally. Cal kept the third game tight, quickly catching up after each minor Cardinal lead. The game’s final tie came at 16-all and was followed by Stanford’s 4-1 run. Along with the momentum, Stanford took its biggest lead of the game.

Cal inched to within three points at 21-18, but two successive Barboza kills prompted Bears’ head coach Rich Feller to call the timeout. Things didn’t go the way Feller had hoped, and the Cardinal took on another 5-1 run to force game point and another Bears’ timeout.

Coming out of the break, Barboza served into the net to make it 29-21. On the next match point, sophomore outside hitter Erin Waller notched her third kill of the match to seal the evening’s sweeping effort.

Stanford hit a whopping .485 during the third game with 17 kills and one error, compared to the Cal’s .237.

Before the third game, the two squads battled for control of the second game before Stanford pulled away for the 30-22 win. The Bears connected on two successive blocks to seize the early lead at 2-0 and held on to control until the Cardinal came back to tie it up, 12-all.

Stanford gained the lead on the next point as Pressey served it into the net, and the Card would never look back. Cal pulled to within one at 16-15, but the Cardinal then went on a 9-3 run before a wide Bears’ attack sealed the deal for Stanford at game point.

The Cardinal hit .229 and held the Bears to just .053 in the game. Barboza added four kills while Kehoe nabbed three in the setter’s spot. After collecting six kills in Game One, the hard-hitting Pressey notched just two in the second.

Stanford also controlled the tempo for the better part of the first game. Pressey collected a kill to open the game, but that would be the Bears’ only lead as the Cardinal cruised to a 30-20 victory. Six errors proved costly for California, who hit just .139 for the game. Stanford hit .355, committing two errors in the process. Richards led the attack with six kills for a .600 percentage.

“We played cohesively and everybody was on,” Barboza said. “It was really our teamwork tonight and it shows. When we play like that, we’re really tough to beat.”

The Cardinal next travel to Los Angeles on Thursday and Friday to battle No. 4 Southern California and No. 3 UCLA.