ATHENS, Georgia – Riding a strong finish to their earlier rounds at home in Berkeley, the eighth-seeded/eighth-ranked California Golden Bears are already in Athens preparing for their Thursday, NCAA round of 16 match against ninth-seeded/ninth-ranked North Carolina. The Bears (20-7) will face the Tar Heels (26-4) at 7 p.m. ET at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex, which is the host for the rest of the NCAA team tournament spanning May 18-23.
 
Georgia will also host the subsequent NCAA individual championships – which will feature Cal seniors Florian Lakat, Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson – from May 24-29.
 
Cal has a 0-2 overall record against North Carolina, including a 4-2 loss to the Tar Heels in the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship quarterfinals in February. Including the national indoor tournament, Cal has posted a 4-3 neutral-site record this season. The Bears also have a 4-1 road record.
 
Under head coach Peter Wright, Cal has reached the NCAA team tournament 18 consecutive times, with the Bears claiming 36 overall berths to the NCAA team tournament.
 
Live Coverage
Fans can watch the live streams and follow the live scores of the NCAA matches at the Henry Feild Courts and McWhorter Courts in Athens by clicking here. The Bears will also tweet updates from @CalMensTennis.
 
NCAA Tournament Site
For more details – including the match schedule, ticket information and much more – please visit Georgia's NCAA Championship site by clicking here.
 
Bears Claim Regional Honors
On Monday, the ITA honored the Bears with Northwest Regional awards, as associate head coach Tyler Browne was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for the third time, Florian Lakat was named the Senior Player of the Year and junior Billy Griffith was named the Player to Watch.
 
Browne, a former Cal player now in his 10th season on the coaching staff, also earned the regional assistant coach accolade in 2012 and 2015.
 
This is the first ITA Northwest Regional honor for Lakat, though he earned the ITA Southern Regional Rookie of the Year award in 2014 when he played at Mississippi State. Lakat, a senior ranked 12th in singles, brings a 19-10 record to Athens, where in addition to the team tournament he will play in the NCAA Singles Championship and, with Filip Bergevi, in the NCAA Doubles Championship. The fifth-ranked duo, which brings a 22-7 record to Georgia, has had a remarkable season that included capturing the doubles title at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships in the fall.
 
Griffith, who is ranked 81st in singles, has a team-high 26 singles wins so far this season and has an overall singles mark of 26-8. He won both his singles matches in Cal's NCAA round of 64 win against Tennessee Tech last Friday and in the round of 32 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.
 
Seniors Heading to NCAA Individual Championships
Florian Lakat, Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson are headed back to the individual postseason tournaments, as the NCAA announced May 3 that the Cal seniors are at-large entrants to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in Athens. The individual tournaments will take place May 24-29 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
 
By virtue of their seeding (5-8) in the doubles tournament, Lakat and Bergevi earned All-America honors. Lakat likewise earned All-America status as a seeded player (9-16) in the singles tournament, in which he will join Goransson for the latter's third time in the singles postseason. This is Lakat's second consecutive berth in the NCAA Singles Championship, and it's the second straight entry for Lakat and Bergevi in NCAA doubles.
 
Last Time Out: Bears Hold Off Northwestern
Playing in his first NCAA tournament, Bjorn Hoffmann rebounded from losing his first set to lift eighth-seeded/eighth-ranked California over No. 21 Northwestern, 4-1, on Saturday and punch the Golden Bears' tickets to Athens, Georgia, for the rest of the NCAA Championship. Cal lost the doubles point to the Wildcats and then lost three of six first sets in singles in Saturday's round of 32. But the Cal freshman's 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jason Seidman wiped that all away and sent the Bears rushing onto court six to celebrate with him.
 
On Friday, Cal beat Tennessee Tech in the opening NCAA round of 64. Junior J.T. Nishimura clinched the win over the Golden Eagles with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Marc Mila on court five. 
 
Poll Position
In the second-to-last Oracle/ITA Rankings of the season, Cal moved up to No. 8 in the team poll. In the individual rankings, senior Florian Lakat is ranked 12th, senior Andre Goransson is ranked 61st and junior Billy Griffith is ranked 81st. In doubles, Lakat and senior Filip Bergevi are ranked fifth, while Goransson and Griffith are ranked 74th.
 
Scouting Cal

• 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, who's last three singles matches have gone unfinished, is also 12-7 on court one
• Lakat garnered Pac-12 Player of the Week on Feb. 20 and on April 17, 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 67th-ranked Konrad Zieba, 7-5, 6-4, in the win over Northwestern; he's 25-11 in singles and his court-two record is 11-7
• 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
• Lakat and Bergevi have a 22-7 record that includes a 6-1, doubles-point clinching win over Tennessee Tech's Alberto Esteban/Guillermo Nicolas in the round of 64
• Besides winning this season's All-American doubles championship, the lauded duo also earned doubles All-America honors last season
• In singles, Billy Griffith has a 26-8 record, including a 16-6 dual-match record; that includes records of 7-4 on court three and 7-2 on court four
• Bergevi is 18-9 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 improved to 22-14 in singles after winning against Tennessee Tech and Northwestern; he clinched the latter victory and Cal's trip to Athens
• J.T. Nishimura won twice in the NCAA's first two rounds, clinching the win over the Golden Eagles, to improve his record to 13-5; he's also 8-4 on court 5 and 3-1 on court six
• The 74th-ranked Goransson and Griffith have an 19-7 doubles record, including a 10-4 court-two record
• Hoffmann and Nishimura have an 13-10 doubles record, including a 6-1 win over Tennessee Tech's Marc Mila and Jorge Alfonzo in the round of 64
• 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

 
Scouting North Carolina

• UNC earned honors from the ITA Carolina Region: Ronnie Schneider was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year and earned the ITA/Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award; William Blumberg was named the ITA Rookie of the Year
• Five Tar Heels are ranked in singles in No. 16 Blumberg, No. 22 Schneider, No. 73 Nick Horton, No. 80 Alexis Galarneau and No. 116 Robert Kelly
• In doubles, Blumberg and Kelly are ranked 12th, while Jack Murry and Simon Soendergaard are ranked 82nd
• Sam Paul is in his 24th year as head coach of the Tar Heels

NCAA Lauds Bears For APR
Cal men's tennis was one of a record-seven Cal teams to earn NCAA Public Recognition Awards for their exceptional results in the classroom. Each of the seven – men's tennis, women's tennis, women's golf, women's gymnastics, lacrosse, volleyball and men's water polo – posted a perfect multiyear Academic Progress Rate of 1,000. Cal's seven recognized programs ties for the second most in the Pac-12.
 
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance. The most recent APRs are multiyear rates based on scores from the 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years.
 
Last Time at NCAAs
Cal's deepest run into the postseason in 25 years came to an end on May 23, 2016, when the 13th-seeded/ranked Golden Bears lost to the top-seeded/ranked Virginia Cavaliers, 4-0, in the NCAA semifinals at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
 
The Bears had beaten two top-five seeds in No. 4 TCU and No. 5 Ohio State in Tulsa to get to the semifinals, but they ran across a truly challenging opponent in the defending champions. Cal finished the team portion of its season with a 21-7 record, while UVa went on to repeat as NCAA champ.
 
Cal History at NCAAs
Cal's best finish the NCAA team tournament was second place, which the Bears accomplished in 1950, 1952 and 1953. Cal has won two NCAA singles titles, with E.G. "Bud" Chandler winning the crown in 1925 and 1926.
 
The following pairs won nine NCAA doubles titles for the Bears: Gervais Hillis/Gerald Stratford (1925), E.G. Chandler/Bud Stow (1926), Dolf Muehleisen/Robert Muench (1930), Paul Newton/Richard Bennett (1935, 1937), Doug Imhoff/Robert Peacock (1939), Clif Mayne/Hugh Ditzler (1952), Doug Eisenman/Matt Lucena (1990) and Matt Lucena/Bent-Ove Pederson (1991).
 
Next Time
The NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships run May 24-29 in Athens.