Cal Hosts Utah Friday In Pac-12 Opener

BERKELEY – California starts Pac-12 Conference play when it hosts Utah on Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The 13-5 Golden Bears take on Utah (13-4, 0-0 Pac-12) in its last 5 p.m. match of the regular season at Hellman. The Bears then host Arizona (9-9, 0-0 Pac-12) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Admission is free to regular-season matches at Hellman. Fans can also watch the match using the live stream available here and can keep track of the action on Twitter by following @CalMensTennis.

Cal began the current homestand with a pair of 4-3 victories over Yale, on March 22, and Illinois, on March 25.

Goransson Named Pac-12 Player of the Week

Andre Goransson collected his second Pac-12 Player of the Week honor when the Conference lauded him on Monday for his performances in the Bears' two recent victories.

Goransson and junior Billy Griffith – ranked 65th – clinched the doubles point in No. 11 Cal's 4-3 win over No. 48 Yale on March 22 and in the Bears' 4-3 win over No. 22/25 Illinois on March 25. Goransson also clinched the overall win over the Bulldogs, when the 48th-ranked Goransson beat Ziqi Wang at court-two singles, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1, to hand Cal the victory under the lights at the Hellman Tennis Complex.

Poll Position
The Bears moved up two spots to No. 9 in Tuesday's Oracle/ITA team poll. The USTA, which ranked Cal 11th last week, will release its next poll on Wednesday.

In the March 21 singles Oracle/ITA Rankings, senior Florian Lakat is ranked 13th, senior Andre Goransson is ranked 48th, junior Billy Griffith is ranked 71st and senior Filip Bergevi is ranked 108th. In doubles, the pair of Bergevi and Lakat is ranked fourth, while Goransson and Griffith are ranked 65th.

Scouting the Bears

Florian Lakat, a previous Pac-12 Player of the Week (Feb. 20), has a 16-11 singles record and is 9-8 at court-one singles
Andre Goransson has an 21-10 singles record and an 8-6 court-two singles record; he beat Filip Bergevi for the singles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships last fall in Berkeley
Bergevi is 16-9 in singles, including 3-4 on court three; he's also 2-2 on court four, on which the senior clinched the win over Illinois with a 7-5, 7-6(6) win over Julian Childers
In singles, Billy Griffith has a 21-5 record, including an 11-3 dual-match record; that breaks down into 6-2 on court three and 5-1 on court four
Freshman Bjorn Hoffmann (20-11 in singles) has played the most on court five (4-5); he's also 3-3 on court four
Also on court five, J.T. Nishimura (8-4 overall) is 4-3; the junior is also 3-1 on court six
Doubles All-Americans last season, Lakat and Bergevi have posted a 19-4 doubles record, including an 11-2 record on court one, this season; last fall, the two Bears won the doubles crown at the Saint Francis Health System All-American Championships
Goransson and Griffith have a 18-5 doubles record, including a 9-1 court-two record
Hoffmann and Nishimura have an 8-8 doubles record, including 7-7 on court three
Two proud Cal alumni lead the Golden Bears: 2016 Pac-12 Coach of the Year Peter Wright (class of '91) is in his 24th year as head coach, while associate head coach Tyler Browne (class of 2008) is in his ninth year on the staff

Scouting Utah

Utah plays a nonconference match at Pacific on Wednesday
In its last match, Utah won at LMU, 5-2
Roeland Brateneau is in his second season as Utah's head coach

Scouting Arizona

The Wildcats play their Pac-12 opener at Stanford on Friday
Arizona won at San Diego State, 4-3, in its last match
Clancy Shields is in his first year as head coach of Arizona

TennisRecruiting.Net Tabs Cal's Class No. 1
TennisRecruiting.net named Cal's recruiting class No. 1 in its winter rankings. The five-man class of Jacob Brumm, Paul Barretto, Jackson Suh, Ben Draper and Jack Molloy – which arrives in Berkeley next fall – gave Cal (with 461 points and 8 first-place votes) the edge over Florida (460 point, 8 first-place votes) and UCLA (433 points, 3 first-place votes) in the top 25 poll.

Bears Celebrate 125 Years of Cal Tennis
Cal men's tennis is celebrating the 125th year of the program, which has produced multiple national champions and All-Americans in its storied history. The perennial powerhouse, which was founded in 1892, has won three national team titles, four national singles titles and 14 national doubles championships from NCAA, USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships and ITA All-American Championships. The Golden Bears have also captured several conference singles and doubles titles as well.

Now in his 24th year as head coach at his alma mater, Peter Wright has coached 17 players who combined to earn 18 All-America honors and led the 2015-16 squad to the NCAA team semifinals. Wright has earned his share of accolades along the way, including his third Pac-12 Coach of the Year award last season and selection into the USTA NorCal Hall of Fame in the summer of 2015.

Next Time
The Bears close the six-match homestand with an April 7 match against UCLA and an April 8 tilt with USC at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the April 7 match live from Hellman.