OJAI, Calif. – The third time was the charm for California men's tennis. After losing to UCLA twice in the regular season, Cal met the Bruins for a third time in Friday's Pac-12 Championship semifinals, and this time the fourth-seeded/33rd-ranked Golden Bears upset top-seeded/eighth-ranked UCLA, 4-1, to advance to Saturday's final. Cal sophomore Jacob Brumm clinched the victory when he beat Ben Goldberg, 6-3, 6-2, at court-five singles at Libbey Park.
 
Cal will play USC in the final, with the Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area broadcasting the championship match live at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The conference champion earns an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
 
The Bears last reached the Pac-12 final in 2016, when they lost to UCLA, and haven't won the title since the inception of the conference team tournament in 2012. Cal last won a share of the conference championship in 1953, as the south champion; Washington was that year's north champion.
 
Cal improved its record to 14-11 with Friday's semifinal win over defending Pac-12 champion UCLA, which is now 17-5.
 
As in the first meeting, on Feb. 8 in Los Angeles, Cal won the doubles point against the Bruins on Friday. The Bears opened with a loss, as the 31st-ranked Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi fell to UCLA's fourth-ranked Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith, 6-0, on court one. But Cal rebounded on court two, with Paul Barretto and Can Kaya topping Govind Nanda and Connor Rapp, 7-5, and then Ben Draper and Jack Molloy clinched the point when they edged Bryce Pereira and Patrick Zahraj, 7-6(4), on court three.
 
UCLA evened the match at 1-1 when Zahraj defeated Draper, 6-2, 6-3, at court-four singles. But Bjorn Hoffmann followed with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Eric Hahn on court six to give Cal a 2-1 lead, and Barretto upset the 52nd-ranked Nanda, 6-4, 6-4, on court three to hand the Bears a 3-1 advantage.
 
Cal trailed on courts one and two when Brumm – who didn't play in the March 30 contest with UCLA in Berkeley – beat Goldberg to end the match.
 
"That was maybe the most nervy match of tennis I've ever played," Brumm told the Pac-12 Networks. The southern California product from Rancho Santa Fe added, "I've been coming up here since I was little. I've always seen the big Pac-12 schools play here. I've seen classic battles, and it's unbelievable and so surreal for me to be a part of that now and to actually have an epic battle here."
 
Pac-12 Championship Semifinal Round
 
[4] No. 33 California (14-11) defeated [1] No. 8/13 UCLA (17-5), 4-1
April 26, 2019, in Ojai, Calif.
Libbey Park
 
Doubles
1. No. 4 Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. No. 31 Jacob Brumm/Yuta Kikuchi (Cal), 6-0
2. Paul Barretto/Can Kaya (Cal) def. Govind Nanda/Connor Rapp (UCLA), 7-5
3. Ben Draper/Jack Molloy (Cal) def. Bryce Pereira/Patrick Zahraj (UCLA), 7-6(4)*
 
Cal won the doubles point
Order of Finish – 1, 2, 3*
*Clinched the doubles point
 
Singles
1. No. 17 Maxime Cressy (UCLA) vs. Yuta Kikuchi (Cal), 7-5, 3-3 DNF
2. No. 42 Keegan Smith (UCLA) vs. Jack Molloy (Cal), 6-4, 5-4 DNF
3. Paul Barretto (Cal) def. No. 52 Govind Nanda (UCLA), 6-4, 6-4
4. Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) def. Ben Draper (Cal), 6-2, 6-3
5. Jacob Brumm (Cal) def. Ben Goldeberg (UCLA), 6-3, 6-2^
6. Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal) def. Eric Hahn (UCLA), 6-1, 6-2
 
Order of Finish – 4, 6, 3, 5^
^Clinched the overall win