FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. ? California placed Golden Bears in three of the four Sunday finals at the USTA/ITA National Women's Indoor Intercollegiate Championships with victories on Saturday. Maegan Manasse will vie for two championships ? in singles and consolation doubles ? at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Including the ASU Thunderbird Invitational (see below), Cal will play in a total of four finals on Sunday.
Manasse, ranked 43rd and seeded fifth in singles at the indoor tournament, plays at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday against Virginia's Julia Elbaba for the singles crown. The Golden bear sophomore eliminated Miami's Stephanie Wagner, 6-3, 7-6(4), in Saturday's quarterfinals. Wagner had beaten Cal junior Lynn Chi in Friday's round of 16. Manasse's fellow finalist, Elbaba, is the tournament's fifth seed and the nation's fifth-ranked singles player, who defeated Cal senior Zsofi Susanyi in Friday's round of 32.
This marks the fourth time in six tournaments in which a Bear has reached the singles final, including in 2009 - when Jana Juricova became the first Cal player to win it ? 2010 (Juricova) and 2012 (Anett Schutting). Manasse is the fourth Bear overall to reach the singles final, including Suzi Babos in 2004. Cal has won two indoor titles total, including the doubles crown that Claire Curran and Amy Jensen won in 2000.
Susanyi, playing in consolation singles, also reached a final after winning twice on Saturday. She knocked off USC's 38th-ranked Giuliana Olmos, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, in the quarterfinals and then dispatched Mississippi's 72nd-ranked Julia Jones, 6-4, 7-6(4), in the semifinals. Susanyi, ranked 16th, will play Florida's second-seeded Josie Kuhlman at 10 a.m. on Sunday for the consolation title. Manasse had beaten Kuhlman ? whom the ITA rates as the second-best freshman in the country ? in the singles main draw round of 32 on Friday.
In the consolation doubles semifinals on Saturday, the top-seeded duo of Manasse and sophomore Denise Starr defeated North Carolina's 58th-ranked Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle, 0-6, 6-4, 10-6. They battle Michigan's second-seeded Emina Bektas and Alexandria Najarian in Sunday's 1 p.m. ET final.
“Obviously we're very excited,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “We're undefeated today in all the matches that we played here, starting off with Zsofi advancing to the singles consolation final. She played very well and won a tough three setter against Giuliana Olmos from SC. Zsofi played a really great match there.
“She's playing really well. Hopefully this is going to be a great way to finish off her fall competitive season. She spent a lot of time on court but you couldn't tell. Her fitness level is where it needs to be. Exciting stuff to see from Zsofi.
“Maegan had just a really great match against an in-form Stephanie Wagner. Maegan had to work her way into the match and counteract Wagner's really aggressive, hard-hitting play from both sides. Maegan was able to keep her ball deep enough, counteract, figure out how to be aggressive and get to the net when she had the chance. Maegan played a really great tiebreaker in the second set as did Zsofi in the second set of her match. We definitely will keep working on tiebreakers in practice. They were very focused and relaxed when it came to that point.
“In doubles we got off to a pretty slow start, losing the first set. But we rebounded, and it was really exciting. Denise is from this area, and a lot of her family, grandparents and cousins were able to come and support us. Denise and Maegan were able to figure out a way to change their tactics a couple times and then got it done in the super tiebreak.”
TEMPE, Ariz. ? Karla Popovic upset two seeded and nationally ranked players to reach the singles final at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on Saturday. The unseeded, unranked Cal freshman has a shot at another seeded and ranked player ? Fresno State's third-seeded and 53rd-ranked Sophie Watts ? at 9:30 a.m. MT in Sunday's championship match at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Popovic began her Saturday by beating ASU's second-seeded and 46th-ranked Stephanie Vlad, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-2, and followed that with another three-set win this time over the fourth seed ? Michigan's 77th-ranked Sarah Lee ? 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Including her win over ASU's Ebony Panoho on Friday, Popovic has captured three straight three-set victories.
In the Maroon Draw Second-Round Consolation bracket quarterfinals, Cal redshirt freshman Stephane Lin advanced via a walkover against ASU's Leighann Sahagun, while freshman Lyann Hoang lost to San Diego's Dana Oppinger, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. In the Sparky Draw First-Round Consolation Back Draw quarterfinals, Lin beat BYU's Meghan Sheehan-Dizon, 6-2, 6-2.
“We're also pretty happy Karla is in the final in Arizona,” Augustus added from New York. “To be in four finals in the last competitive Sunday in the fall shows the hard work the team put in this fall. We're looking forward to going back to Berkeley, getting back together and celebrating as a team and build from there.”
