Bears Vie For Indoor Berths At Regional

Friday, October 21

Stanford, Calif.

All Day

California

USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships

Cal competes for singles and doubles titles - and berths to national indoors - at the regional.

10/19/2016 3:36 PM | Women's Tennis

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By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – California returns to action when the Golden Bears compete in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships presented by Oracle from Friday through Tuesday at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The main draw singles and doubles champions will qualify to play in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships from Nov. 3-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.

The regional will feature the fall debuts of Cal senior and four-time All-American Maegan Manasse and of newcomer Maya Jansen, the former two-time NCAA doubles champion who joined the Bears after graduating from Alabama. Jansen, who won her NCAA titles in 2014 and 2015, is a graduate student at Cal.

Fans can watch the FloTennis live stream (subscription required) of the regional by clicking here. The draws for the regional are available here.

Last Year: Hauger, Fabikova Fall In Regional Doubles Final
In just their fifth match – and first tournament – together as a doubles team, Cal's Klara Fabikova and Olivia Hauger fell to Stanford's Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle in the 2015 final of the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships. The third-seeded Golden Bears lost to the top-seeded Cardinal pair, 7-6(5), 6-3, as the tournament came to a close at Stanford's Taube Family Stadium.

In singles, Fabikova, Denise Starr and Karla Popovic reached the quarterfinal round of the regional's main draw.

Last Time: Starr Reaches Malibu Round of 16
Denise Starr's run in the 2016 Oracle ITA Masters ended in the main draw singles round of 16, as the Cal senior lost to Duke's Meible Chi on Oct. 14 at Pepperdine. Ranked 62nd, the Golden Bear won the first set before falling to the seventh-seeded Blue Devil, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

On Oct. 13, in the round of 32, Starr beat New Mexico State's Rimpledeep Kaur, 6-2, 6-1. The Cal senior also teamed up with USC's Nick Crystal in mixed doubles, with the Pac-12 pair losing to Idaho State's Marianna Petrei and Portland State's Nathan Boneil, 6-3.

Poll Position
Cal earned five spots in the 2016-17 Oracle ITA preseason rankings, with seniors Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr – the 2016 NCAA doubles finalists – claiming Cal's highest rank at No. 3. The All-Americans, who posted a 23-11 record in 2015-16, ended last season ranked fourth.

Manasse, who was also a singles All-American and the Pac-12 singles champion as a junior, garnered a No. 7 preseason singles ranking. She ended last year ranked ninth. Starr, who had a final ranking of 88th and a 27-7 record as a junior, is 62nd to start her senior season, and sophomore Olivia Hauger (30-6 and ranked 121st to end her freshman year) is now 86th. Karla Popovic, who compiled a 37-7 record (including 23-0 in dual matches) as a sophomore – opens her junior season ranked 90th.

Next Time
The Bears who qualify will compete in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships from Nov. 3-6 in Flushing Meadows, New York. Another group of Bears will play in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational from Nov. 4-6 in Tempe, Arizona.