Cal Sports Roundup: Men’s golf, women’s water polo finish 2nd in Pac-12

A busy weekend for various Cal sports teams: 

Bears finish 2nd at Pac-12 men’s golf

Cal finished second at the Pac-12 men’s golf championships at Desert Forest Golf Club at Carefree, Arizona, powered by three individuals in the top-13.

Ethan Fang tied for third place, Sampson Zheng was sixth and Eric Lee played 13th in the individual competition. Fang’s finish was the best by a Cal golfer since Collin Morikawa won the event in 2019.

The 21st-ranked Bears had their best finish since 2016. They trailed eventual champion Arizona State by just three strokes entering the final round, but the third-ranked Sun Devils pulled away with a Sunday score of 352.

Cal, which strung together four rounds between 360 and 370, checked in with a 365 on Sunday.

The Bears will find out Wednesday if they earn an expected second straight bid to the NCAA regionals, which will be held May 13-15 at various sites.

Cal women’s water polo nabs runner-up spot at MPSF

The third-seeded Cal women’s water polo team advanced to the championship game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships for the first time since 2011 before losing to unbeaten No. 1 UCLA 13-10 at Bloomington, Indiana.

Rozanne Voorvelt scored three goals for her third hat trick of the season and Mary Dempsey notched a pair of goals one day after scoring her 100th career goal. Dempsey has a team-leading 42 goals for the Bears (17-6).

The Bears are hosting the NCAA Championships, May 10-12 at Spieker Aquatics Complex, for the first time. The field will be unveiled Monday at 5 p.m. during the selection program on .

Cal lands berth in NCAA beach volleyball championships

For the third year in a row, the Bears (28-9) will play in the NCAA tournament after landing a program-best No. 7 seed. Cal will face No. 10 Long Beach State (21-13) on Friday at noon PT at Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Cal beat Long Beach 3-2 in a first-round NCAA matchup last season for its first-ever victory at the event.

A record six Pac-12 teams qualified for the 17-school NCAA field. Top-seeded USC is the three-time defending national champion.