Bears Battle For Titles In Golden State

Tuesday, October 3

Los Angeles, CA

All Day

California

Day 2

Alexis Nelson and her teammates will split up to play in two tournaments this week.

10/3/2017 1:24 PM | Women's Tennis

All-American Site SMC Invite Draws Follow Cal on Twitter Follow Cal on Instagram Like Cal on Facebook

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – California's Karla Popovic and Olivia Hauger are hoping to add more hardware to their early season haul when they compete in the Riviera ITA All-American Championships starting Tuesday in Pacific Palisades, California. Another group of Golden Bears will play at the Saint Mary's Invitational from Friday through Sunday at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex in nearby Moraga, California.

Popovic, a senior, and Hauger, a junior, are coming off a win in the top-flight doubles final at the Cal Fall Invitational on Oct. 1 at the Hellman Tennis Complex. In singles at the All-American, Hauger, ranked 75th, needs to win three times in the qualifying bracket – which started Tuesday – to join the fifth-ranked Popovic in main draw singles, which start Thursday.

This season marks the first time Hauger is playing at the All-American and the first time in two seasons that Popovic is in the national tournament. Last year around this time, they won the top-flight doubles title and Popovic captured the top singles crown at the Saint Mary's Invitational.

Scouting the Bears

Popovic and Hauger (4-0 record) defeated freshmen teammates Anna Bright and Vivian Glozman (3-1), 8-5, in the Blue flight doubles final of the Cal Fall Invitational on Oct. 1 in Berkeley
Popovic, who didn't play in singles at the Cal Fall Invitational, was an All-American and All-Pac-12 First-Team selection who posted a 40-6 singles record last season; she was ranked 15th in singles to end 2016-17
Hauger (2-1) reached the Blue flight singles quarterfinals at the Cal Fall Invitational
Hauger posted a 27-9 singles mark last season, when she also clinched a team-high seven dual-match victories for the Bears
Bright – the No. 2 recruit in the nation last year – was impressive in reaching the top-flight singles semifinals at the Cal Fall Invitational; in the quarterfinals the first-year Bear (3-1) upset UCLA's 73rd-ranked and third-seeded Jada Hart, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-2
Freshman Vivian Glozman (2-0) – the nation's No. 9 recruit last year – claimed the Blue singles consolation title at the Cal Fall Invitational
Maria Smith, a junior, teamed with freshman Jasie Dunk to reach the Gold doubles semifinals at the Cal Fall Invitational, and they won a consolation match to finish the tournament with a 4-1 record; Smith was also 2-2 in singles
Former NCAA champion and Cal alumna Amanda Augustus (class of 1999) was named the 2016 Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year; she is in her 11th season as head coach of the Bears
Zack Warren in in his fourth year as the Cal women's tennis assistant coach
Former Cal All-Americans Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, who completed their college careers last spring, join the staff as undergraduate student assistant coaches