BERKELEY - Freshman Olivia Hauger clinched No. 1 California's eventual 7-0 rout of No. 38 Oregon on Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex to keep the Golden Bears' record perfect at 16-0 and 5-0 in the Pac-12. Prior to the match, the Bears honored Lynn Chi and Klara Fabikova during the Senior Day ceremony. The seniors will be playing in their last regular-season match on Sunday when Cal hosts No. 18 Stanford in the Big Slam.
Playing on court five, the 68th-ranked Hauger knocked off Daniela Nasser 6-0, 6-2 - wrapping up the match when Nasser double faulted - to make the overall score 4-0 and clinch the Conference victory for the Bears.
Cal improved its record to a school-best 16-0 (5-0 in the Pac-12). Oregon now has an 11-6 overall mark (3-4 Pac-12).
Chi and freshman Maria Smith started off the day by quickly defeating Nasser and Paloma Gomez, 6-0, at court-three doubles. The Cal pairs on court one and court two then vied for right to clinch the doubles point, with Fabikova and Hauger leading 5-3 on two and the sixth-ranked Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr leading 5-2 on court one. In the end, Fabikova and Hauger posted a 6-3 victory over Marlou Kluiving and Shweta Sangwan to give Cal a 1-0 lead heading into singles. The match between Manasse/Starr and Nia Rose/Alyssa Tobita was abandoned at 5-2.
The seven-ranked Manasse, a junior, again faced the 12th-ranked Tobita on court one in singles. The Duck went down with an injury early in the first set and resumed play after a visit from the trainer. But with Manasse leading 5-0 in the first set, Tobita retired with an injury. Cal led 2-0.
On court six, Cal sophomore Karla Popovic beat Gomez, 6-3, 6-0, to make the score 3-0 and a few minutes later Hauger clinched the overall match one court over.
Starr, a junior ranked 93rd, topped Kluiving, 6-4, 6-4, to make the score 5-0. After splitting the first two sets, the 11th-ranked Fabikova and Nasser played a match tiebreaker to decide matters on court two. The Cal veteran prevailed, 6-0, 5-7, 1-0(5), leaving fellow senior Chi to wrap things up on court three. Ranked 64th, Chi held off Rose, 6-2, 7-6(3), to complete the 7-0 victory.
“We did a good job today,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “Oregon pushed us on some courts, which was good; we wanted that.
“We'll just have a little longer practice today, because it ended pretty quickly today. We'll fine tune things to get ready for Sunday. Obviously Stanford will be playing Oregon tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get a little bit of insight based on how that match goes. We're really looking forward to the Stanford match. We haven't seen them yet, which is a little unusual. We'll play them twice in two weeks, and I think we'll get a lot of good tennis out of both of those matches. We're excited to now actually be able to think about it.
The Big Slam starts at 11 a.m. at Hellman. The match will also air on the Pac-12 Network and on Pac-12 Bay Area. Former Cal national champion Amy Jensen will provide color commentary alongside play-by-play man J.B. Long.
Sunday's match isn't close to being the end of the road for Fabikova and Chi. After Sunday, Cal will play three more regular-season dual matches on the road, and the Bears should play at Hellman again as likely hosts of first- and second-round matches in the NCAA team tournament. Plus, Cal's postseason could extend all the way to May 30.
Fans should expect to see a lot more of the seniors before the 2015-16 season winds to a close.
“I haven't really realized it,” Fabikova said of the impending end of her college career, “because we still have quite a lot of matches to finish off the season. It is kind of weird, but it makes me appreciate the fact that I still get to play here with my teammates and just play for Cal.”
“It's a little surreal just because it's been so long – four years – and it's kind of amazing it's coming to an end,” Chi said. “I'm going to miss my teammates – they really made this experience here unforgettable. And I'm going to miss the student-athlete experience of coming here every day, going to class, going to practice and representing Cal in an athletic and academic way.”
“They've been big performers for the program all their four years,” Augustus added. “But they've still got more to come.”
No. 1 California (16-0, 5-0 Pac-1) defeated No. 38 Oregon (11-6, 3-4) – 7-0
April 1, 2016, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. No. 6 Maegan Manasse/Denise Starr (Cal) vs. Nia Rose/Alyssa Tobita (Oregon) – 5-2 Abandoned
2. Klara Fabikova/Olivia Hauger (Cal) def. Marlou Kluiving/Shweta Sangwan (Oregon) – 6-3
3. Lynn Chi/Maria Smith (Cal) def. Paloma Gomez/Daniela Nasser (Oregon) – 6-0
Cal won the doubles point
Order of Finish – 3, 2*
*Clinched the doubles point
Singles
1. No. 7 Maegan Manasse (Cal) def. No. 124 Alyssa Tobita (Oregon) – 5-0 ret. (inj.)
2. No. 11 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. Shweta Sangwan (Oregon) – 6-0, 5-7, 1-0(5)
3. No. 64 Lynn Chi (Cal) def. Nia Rose (Oregon) – 6-2, 7-6(3)
4. No. 93 Denise Starr (Cal) def. Marlou Kluiving (Oregon) – 6-4, 6-4
5. No. 68 Olivia Hauger (Cal) def. Daniela Nasser (Oregon) – 6-0, 6-2
6. Karla Popovic (Cal) def. Paloma Gomez (Oregon) – 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish – 1, 6, 5*, 4, 2, 3
*Clinched the overall match
