No. 2 Seed Cal Opens Pac-12s In Semis - California Golden Bears Athletics

BERKELEY – California will look to improve on its 2016 Pac-12 Championship runner-up finish when the Golden Bears start tournament play in Friday's semifinal round in Ojai, California. As the No. 2 seed, the Bears will bypass Wednesday's first round and Thursday's quarterfinals before opening play at Libbey Park. In the semi, Cal will play the winner of the quarterfinal between third-seeded USC and Wednesday's Utah/Washington victor.

The Bears claimed the No. 2 seed by virtue of its 4-0, Big Slam win over Stanford – the Pac-12 tournament's No. 5 seed – on April 22 in Berkeley. The win gave Cal a 5-1 conference record and an 18-6 overall record.

Played in conjunction with the 118th annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, the Pac-12 Championship will determine the conference's automatic team qualifier for the NCAA tournament.

The Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the final on Sunday at 6 p.m. The start time is dependent on the length of the women's final in Ojai, with the Pac-12 Networks televising the women's match starting at 3 p.m.

The draw is available by clicking here. For more information about the Pac-12 Championship, please visit this Pac-12 page.

Poll Position
After beating the Cardinal, Cal moved up one spot to No. 10 in Tuesday's Oracle/ITA Rankings. In the Oracle/ITA singles rankings, senior Florian Lakat is No. 12, senior Andre Goransson is ranked 60th and junior Billy Griffith is 88th. In the Oracle/ITA doubles poll, Lakat and senior Filip Bergevi are ranked fourth, while Goransson and Griffith remain at No. 74.

Scouting the Bears

A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week this season, the 12th-ranked Florian Lakat improved his singles record to 19-10 after beating Tom Fawcett to clinch the April 22 Big Slam; Lakat is also 12-7 on court one
Lakat garnered Pac-12 Player of the Week on Feb. 20 and last week, when he was lauded for winning twice in singles and twice in doubles in Cal's conference wins at Oregon and Washington
Andre Goransson beat Stanford's Sameer Kumar, 6-4, 6-2, in the Big Slam to improve his singles record to 24-10 and his court-two record to 10-6
Goransson was named the March 27 Pac-12 Player of the Week for his play in Cal's wins over Yale and Illinois
Goransson beat teammate Filip Bergevi for the singles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships last fall in Berkeley
In singles, Billy Griffith has a 24-7 record, including a 14-5 dual-match record; that includes records of 7-4 on court three and 5-1 on court four
Bergevi is 17-9 in singles; he's also 3-2 on court four, on which the senior clinched the 4-3 win over Illinois with a 7-5, 7-6(6) win over Julian Childers on March 25
Freshman Bjorn Hoffmann has a 20-13 singles record, including a 12-3 tournament record
On court five, J.T. Nishimura has an 11-5 record, including 6-4 on court 5 and 3-1 on court six
Doubles All-Americans last season, Lakat and Bergevi have posted an 21-5 doubles record, including a 13-3 record on court one; the duo clinched the doubles point against Stanford with a 7-6(2), court-one win over 61st-ranked Tom Fawcett and Yale Goldberg in the Big Slam
The 74th-ranked Goransson and Griffith have an 18-8 doubles record, including a 9-4 court-two record
Hoffmann and Nishimura have an 12-8 doubles record; they improved to 9-7 on court three with a 6-4 win over Stanford's Brandon Sutter and David Wilczynski in the Big Slam
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 10th year on the staff

Last Year in Ojai: Bears Reach First Final
In their first appearance in the Pac-12 Championship final, the 16th-ranked and third-seeded Golden Bears lost to top-seeded and second-ranked UCLA, 4-1, on April 24, 2016, at Libbey Park.

The 27th-ranked Florian Lakat lost to UCLA's 10th-ranked Mackenzie McDonald at court-one singles, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to clinch the Bruins' victory. Cal earned its point on court four, with Filip Bergevi upsetting the 92nd-ranked Karue Sell, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In the April 23 semifinals, the Bears upset second-seeded USC, 4-1, to reach its first Pac-12 final. The 82nd-ranked Billy Griffith knocked off the Trojans' 59th-ranked Logan Smith, 6-4, 6-2, on court three to set up Cal's clash with the Bruins.

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
Cal will learn its NCAA team tournament fate when the selection show is broadcast on May 2.