Cardinal

For the first time this season, Cal women’s gymnastics returned home to enjoy the energy of a Haas Pavilion meet, and better yet, a victorious home-opener.

Both the Bears and the Cardinal have yet to lose thus far, which means only one thing: one team will continue its win streak, and the other will meet its maker and falter to none other than their biggest rival.

The game remained relatively close until the midway point of the second half, when Cal’s perimeter savviness just proved to be too much for the visiting team to handle.

Our 2-6 in conference play may be inadequate, some may even say abysmal. But, we beat the Tree — that private funding, grade-inflating, all-around-worse-than-Berkeley Tree — and that’s all that really matters to me.

Both teams are wearily riding losing streaks in seasons that can be described as nothing more than perfect graveyards of buried hopes. Nevertheless, the blue and gold hold home court advantage this year and in a matchup like this one, that might mean everything.

Though there was not a decisive sweep of either team, Cal proved dominant against Stanford in two of the three games.

Bay Area rival Stanford will be traveling to Berkeley with the hopes of putting the Bears back into hibernation.

Cal looks for its next title at the Pac-12 championships at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, from Wednesday through Saturday.

The women of Cal Athletics have earned a spotlight as game changers in their respective sports. However, it is important to highlight the Black student-athletes that have shaped the success and competitive nature of Cal Athletics.

After falling to Stanford in its first loss of the regular season, Cal looks to bounce back stronger in the Pac-12 championship.