COLLEGE STATION, Texas – California took a 1-0 lead against No. 16 Virginia on Saturday in their ITA Kick-Off Weekend opener, but the Golden Bears ultimately lost to the Cavaliers, 4-2. The Cavaliers clinched when Brandon Nakashima defeated Cal's 98th-ranked Paul Barretto, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
 
UVa (3-0) will play either host Texas A&M or Western Michigan in Sunday's final for the right to advance to the Oracle ITA National Team Indoor Championship. Cal (0-2) will play the ninth-ranked Aggies or Broncos in a consolation match on Sunday.
 
Cal clinched the doubles point against Virginia when the 18th-ranked pair of Barretto and sophomore Can Kaya edged Gianni Ross and Aswin Lizen, 7-6(8), on court two. Earlier, Cal junior Mert Zincirli and sophomore Jack Molloy lost to Nakashima and Henrik Wiersholm on court three, 6-2, and then the Bears' 14th-ranked duo of sophomore Jacob Brumm and freshman Yuta Kikuchi topped Carl Soderlund and Matthew Lord, 6-4, on court one.
 
Virginia reeled off three straight wins to open singles and take a 3-1 lead. Cal junior Bjorn Hoffmann stemmed the tide when he won in three sets against Lizen, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, on court five – until court one decided the match.
 
Five of the six singles matches went to third sets, including on court three, with Molloy leading the 38th-ranked Ross, 4-6, 6-4, 4-3. But when Nakashima won on one, court three's match was abandoned.
 
"Our doubles continues to be a bright spot for us so far," said Cal Direct of Men's Tennis Peter Wright. "We're battling in singles, and we're getting close to turning the corner, but we still have a lot of work to do. One indication of how much fight our guys have is that we lost all six first sets in singles, and then rallied back to win four second sets, and we came very close to winning the match.
 
"This group of guys loves to compete, and they're motivated to improve every day. In spite of starting the season out with a couple of losses, I'm excited about where this team is headed."