Friday, February 10
Rocky Hill, Conn.
9:00 AM
California
vs
Georgia Tech
Maegan Manasse and the Bears head to New Haven to defend their national championship. (Photo by Cal.ISIPhotos.com)
Photo by: cal.isiphotos.com
2/6/2017 2:47 PM | Women's Tennis
BERKELEY – California returns to the tournament that produced one of the greatest glories in program history when the Golden Bears start play in the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship on Friday against Georgia Tech in New Haven, Connecticut. The seventh-seeded and eighth-ranked Golden Bears, who have a 3-0 record this season, are in a field of 16 teams vying for this year's title. They take on the 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets at 12 p.m. ET on Friday.
The Bears are coming off of a 7-0 rout at San Diego State on Sunday. Originally a two-match southern California road trip, the trip was shortened to one when Cal's Feb. 3 match at No. 3 Pepperdine was cancelled due to rain.
Prior to that won the ITA Kick-Off Weekend from Jan. 29-30 in Berkeley to advance to New Haven, where Yale will host national indoors at Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center and at the Tennis and Fitness Center of Rocky Hill. The latter facility is located roughly 35 minutes from New Haven.
Tournament Info
Along with Cal, Georgia Tech and host Yale, the field at national indoors includes No. 14 Auburn, No. 10 Duke, No. 1 Florida, No. 6 Georgia, No. 13 Michigan, No. 2 North Carolina, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Mississippi, No. 3 Pepperdine, No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 9 Vanderbilt.
The matches are free and open to the public. FloTennis will also broadcast national indoors, and fans can sign up for a membership to watch the matches by clicking here.
For more information on the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship – including the draw and the live scores links – please visit this ITAtennis.com page.
Last Year: Cal Wins National Championship
Cal defeated defending champion North Carolina, 4-3, in the final to capture the Bears' first national team title at the 2016 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship.
With the final knotted at 3-3, then-freshman Olivia Hauger settled the match with her 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 victory over UNC's Marika Akkerman at court-five singles. Prior to the final, fourth-seeded Cal blanked host Wisconsin, 4-0, in the first round, beat seventh-ranked Virginia, 4-1, in the quarterfinal round and edged eighth-seeded Ohio State, 4-3, in the semifinals.
Smith Named ASC Scholar-Athlete of the Week
Sophomore Maria Smith garnered the Athletic Study Center Scholar-Athlete of the Week honor this week. The academic support staff has lauded Smith for taking initiative to explore effective study strategies, creating practice inquiries and prioritizing her vast pursuits beyond the academic and athletic space.
Poll Position
Eighth-ranked Cal is currently one of five Pac-12 Conference teams – including No. 4 Stanford, No. 16 Arizona State, No. 20 UCLA and No. 22 USC – appearing in the Feb. 1 top 25 Oracle/ITA Rankings. The new team rankings will come out on Feb. 15.
In Wednesday's singles poll, junior Karla Popovic is ranked 20th, while senior Maegan Manasse is ranked 36th. In Wednesday's doubles rankings, the pair of Popovic and sophomore Olivia Hauger is No. 20, while Manasse and Maya Jansen are ranked 49th.
Scouting the Bears
Scouting the Field
Next Time
Cal returns to the Hellman Tennis Complex to host UCLA on Feb. 24 at 1:30 p.m. and then USC on Feb. 25 at noon.
The Bears are coming off of a 7-0 rout at San Diego State on Sunday. Originally a two-match southern California road trip, the trip was shortened to one when Cal's Feb. 3 match at No. 3 Pepperdine was cancelled due to rain.
Prior to that won the ITA Kick-Off Weekend from Jan. 29-30 in Berkeley to advance to New Haven, where Yale will host national indoors at Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center and at the Tennis and Fitness Center of Rocky Hill. The latter facility is located roughly 35 minutes from New Haven.
Tournament Info
Along with Cal, Georgia Tech and host Yale, the field at national indoors includes No. 14 Auburn, No. 10 Duke, No. 1 Florida, No. 6 Georgia, No. 13 Michigan, No. 2 North Carolina, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Mississippi, No. 3 Pepperdine, No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 9 Vanderbilt.
The matches are free and open to the public. FloTennis will also broadcast national indoors, and fans can sign up for a membership to watch the matches by clicking here.
For more information on the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship – including the draw and the live scores links – please visit this ITAtennis.com page.
Last Year: Cal Wins National Championship
Cal defeated defending champion North Carolina, 4-3, in the final to capture the Bears' first national team title at the 2016 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship.
With the final knotted at 3-3, then-freshman Olivia Hauger settled the match with her 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 victory over UNC's Marika Akkerman at court-five singles. Prior to the final, fourth-seeded Cal blanked host Wisconsin, 4-0, in the first round, beat seventh-ranked Virginia, 4-1, in the quarterfinal round and edged eighth-seeded Ohio State, 4-3, in the semifinals.
Smith Named ASC Scholar-Athlete of the Week
Sophomore Maria Smith garnered the Athletic Study Center Scholar-Athlete of the Week honor this week. The academic support staff has lauded Smith for taking initiative to explore effective study strategies, creating practice inquiries and prioritizing her vast pursuits beyond the academic and athletic space.
Poll Position
Eighth-ranked Cal is currently one of five Pac-12 Conference teams – including No. 4 Stanford, No. 16 Arizona State, No. 20 UCLA and No. 22 USC – appearing in the Feb. 1 top 25 Oracle/ITA Rankings. The new team rankings will come out on Feb. 15.
In Wednesday's singles poll, junior Karla Popovic is ranked 20th, while senior Maegan Manasse is ranked 36th. In Wednesday's doubles rankings, the pair of Popovic and sophomore Olivia Hauger is No. 20, while Manasse and Maya Jansen are ranked 49th.
Scouting the Bears
- Karla Popovic beat SDSU's Jana Buth, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles on Sunday to improve to 24-1; her only loss this season was to Ohio State's top-ranked Francesca Di Lorenzo
- Popovic won the singles title and paired with sophomore Olivia Hauger to capture the doubles crown at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in the fall; the 38th-ranked Bears have a 14-3 doubles record
- Maya Jansen (8-5) clinched the win over the Aztecs, beating Mia Smith, 6-2, 6-3, at court-four singles
- Senior Denise Starr and freshman Alexis Nelson (2-0) clinched doubles vs. San Diego State with a 6-4 court-three victory over Smith and Alli Valk
- Maegan Manasse has an 8-1 singles record so far this season; the four-time All-American won the singles and – with Jansen – doubles titles at this year's Cal Winter Invitational and went 2-0 in doubles in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend
- Manasse and Jansen have a 6-0 overall record and beat Buth and Taylor Lederman, 6-0, at court-one doubles in the win at SDSU
- Cal alumna Amanda Augustus (class of 1999) was named the 2016 Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year and was a two-time NCAA doubles champion in her playing days in Berkeley; she is in her 10th season as head coach of the Bears
- Zack Warren in in his third year as the Cal women's tennis assistant coach
Scouting the Field
- Top-ranked Florida remained unbeaten at 3-0 when it won at No. 3 Pepperdine, 5-2, on Feb. 4
- Five Gators are ranked nationally in singles, though none are in the top 10; No. 19 Josie Kuhlman is the highest-ranked Florida player
- But Florida has five ranked doubles teams, with the No. 17 duo of Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock ranked the highest for the Gators
- UNC boasts two players ranked nationally in the top 10 in singles in No. 2 Sara Daavettila and No. 5 Hayley Carter; Carter and Jessie Aney are ranked No. 2 in doubles
- The 2-1 Waves have the fourth-ranked doubles team in Christine Maddox and Mayar Sherif along with the seventh-ranked singles player in Luisa Stefani
- Francesca Di Lorenzo, the No. 1 singles player in the nation, leads Ohio State
- Fourth-ranked Astra Sharma is the top singles player for Vanderbilt, which won the NCAA team championship in 2015
Next Time
Cal returns to the Hellman Tennis Complex to host UCLA on Feb. 24 at 1:30 p.m. and then USC on Feb. 25 at noon.
Players Mentioned
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