BERKELEY – The No. 55 California women's tennis team starts a busy week by welcoming fifth-ranked Michigan to the Hellman Tennis Complex on Wednesday. The midweek match will be followed by the start of Pac-12 Conference play at Utah on Friday at 1:30 p.m. MT and at Colorado on Sunday at 11 a.m. MT.
 
Cal brings a 3-3 record into the dual match with the 7-1 Wolverines. Utah is 8-3, while Colorado – ahead of its Friday match vs. Stanford – is 7-3.
 
Admission is free for regular-season home tennis at Hellman. Click here for the live stream for Wednesday's match, here for the live stream of the Utah match and here for the live stats for Friday's match. Fans can also follow updates of all the Bears' matches on Twitter at @CalWomensTennis.
 
Cal Surges Past San Diego State
Hannah Viller Moeller clinched her third Cal victory of 2023 on Feb. 24, as the Bears defeated San Diego State, 5-1, in their most recent match at Hellman. A junior, Viller Moeller bested Alicia Melosch, 6-3, 6-3, at court-three singles.
 
Bears Vs. Michigan, Utah & Colorado In 2022
In the spring of 2022, Cal lost at Michigan, defeated Utah twice and routed Colorado.
 
On Feb. 8, the Bears suffered their first setback of the season, 5-2, on the Wolverines' indoor courts. Then freshman-Katja Wiersholm paired with Jessica Alsola to clinch the doubles point – beating Anca Craciun and Nicole Hammond, 7-6(2) on court two – and Wiersholm beat Gala Mesochoritou, 6-0, 6-1, at court-five singles.
 
Wiersholm clinched for the fourth time last spring in Cal's 7-0 blanking of Utah on March 18 in Berkeley. First, Wiersholm and Alsola secured the doubles point with a 6-0 win over the 54th-ranked Emily Dush and Anastasia Goncharova on court one, and then Wiersholm bested Lindsay Hung, 6-0, 6-1, on court three to settle the overall contest.
 
In Cal's second match with Utah last spring, Alsola clinched a 4-0 win in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Championship. Alsola and Wiersholm again won in doubles, clinching the point with a 7-6(5) result over Goncharova and Dush, and then Alsola beat Dush, 6-4, 6-2, at court-two singles to send the Bears to the conference semifinals.
 
In the lone meeting with the Buffaloes last season, Cal won a 7-0 regular-season blowout on March 20. The court-three Cal duo of Erin Richardson and Julia Rosenqvist beat Megan Forster and Mila Stanojevic, 6-2, to wrap up the doubles point, and later Haley Giavara defeated Antonia Balzert, 6-1, 6-3, at court-one singles to clinch the overall win.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked 55th in this week's ITA Coaches Poll. In the last week's ITA singles poll, Jessica Alsola (15-3 record) was ranked 36th and Katja Wiersholm (7-5) was ranked 122nd. The duo of Alsola and Katja Wiersholm (12-7) was ranked No. 16 in doubles. The ITA will release its next team poll on Tuesday and announce its next individual polls on March 7.
 
Scouting Cal

• Cal is 1-1 in its all-time series with Michigan, while the Bears are 17-0 vs. Utah and 9-1 vs. Colorado
• Hannah Viller Moeller has clinched all three of Cal's victories so far, including the 6-1 win over UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 21, the 4-1 win over Princeton in the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 27 in Berkeley and the recent result over SDSU
• Haley Giavara ended fall 2022 in France, where the Cal senior and Team USA won the Master'U BNP Paribas Championship, with Cal head coach Amanda Augustus on the U.S. staff
• Sophomores Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm were outstanding in the fall, as the duo won the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the consolation doubles final at the ITA National Fall Championships
• Alsola, Wiersholm and Viller Moeller reached the singles quarterfinals at ITA regionals
• Also last fall, Alsola won the consolation singles title at the ITA All-American Championships, beating USD's Solymar Colling in the final, 6-2, 6-3
• Former two-time NCAA doubles champion Amanda Augustus – the 2021 Pac-12 Coach of the Year and five-time ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year (including in 2021-22) – is in her 16th year as head coach at her alma mater
• Prior to starting her Cal head coaching career in 2007, Augustus posted a record of 17-8 as the head coach at Michigan in the 2006-07 season; she was an assistant coach for the Wolverines in the 2005-06 season
• Associate head coach Zack Warren – the 2022 ITA Northwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year, who has collected four regional awards overall – is in his ninth year on the staff
• Sean Hill is in his first year as Cal's volunteer assistant coach, after playing as a graduate student for the Cal men's tennis team last season

Scouting Michigan

• In its most recent match, Michigan won 5-2 at Princeton on Feb. 18
• In the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in mid-February, Michigan posted a 4-2 win over No. 7 Virginia in the first round, lost to No. 2 (and eventual champ) North Carolina, 4-1, in the quarterfinals, and won 4-1 over No. 11 Ohio State in a consolation match in Seattle
• Five Wolverines are ranked in singles: No. 21 Jaedan Brown, No. 32 Julia Fliegner, No. 46 Kari Miller, No. 55 Lily Jones and No. 113 Gala Mesochoritou
• Brown and Miller are ranked second in the nation in doubles
• Ronni Bernstein is in her 16th season as head coach of Michigan

Scouting Utah

• Utah split its last two matches – falling to Minnesota, 4-3, on Feb. 24 and beating Memphis, 4-1, in Minneapolis
• In the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Utah lost to Charlotte, 4-0, on Jan. 27 and lost to Maryland, 4-2, on Jan. 28
• In the ITA Mountain Regional Championships in the fall, Kaila Barksdale reached the singles semifinals, while Madison Tattini and Anastasia Goncharova advanced to the doubles semis
• Ric Mortera is in his fourth year as Utah's head coach

 
Scouting Colorado

• In their last two matches, both played in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Buffaloes lost to the host Huskers, 4-2, on Feb. 24 and defeated South Dakota, 4-1, on Feb. 25
• The doubles team of Mila Stanojevic and Elys Ventura reached the semifinals of the ITA Mountain Regional Championships
• Anthony Pham is in his second season as Colorado's head coach

Next Time
Cal hosts Hawaii on March 12 at noon at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
Stay Posted
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