BERKELEY – The No. 33 California men's tennis team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie 15th-ranked Arizona but ultimately fell to the Wildcats, 4-3, in a marathon Pac-12 Conference match on Saturday night at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
The Golden Bears (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) got singles wins from Philip Hjorth, Carl Emil Overbeck and Yuta Kikuchi to tie Arizona (13-4, 1-1 Pac-12) at 3-3. But Nick Lagaev edged Siddhant Banthia, 4-6, 7-6(5) 7-6(5), to clinch the victory for the Wildcats, in a match that lasted roughly four hours and 20 minutes.
 
The match was originally scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. but – with rain in the forecast for much of Sunday – was moved to Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Cal got off to an inauspicious start when the Bears lost the doubles point for the first time at home and for the second time in 11 tries. The 54th-ranked pair of Ryder Jackson and Lucas Magnaudet collected a win on court two over Arizona's Herman Hoeyeraal and Gustaf Strom, 6-4. But the Wildcats won on courts one and three to take a 1-0 lead into singles.
 
As in Friday's win over Arizona State, Cal got an early singles win from Philip Hjorth, with the senior beating Jay Friend, 6-4, 7-5, on Saturday to give the Bears a 1-1 tie with the Wildcats.
 
Arizona surged ahead with wins on courts three and two to take a 3-1 lead.
 
But Carl Emil Overbeck and Yuta Kikuchi won back-to-back three-setters to lift Cal into a 3-3 tie. First, Overbeck bested the 97th-ranked Herman Hoeyeraal, 7-6(9), 2-6, 6-3, on court four, and then Kikuchi, ranked 30th, topped the 78th-ranked Colton Smith, 1-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(8), on court one. The composed Cal veteran trailed 5-1 in the third-set tiebreaker before bouncing back to win.
 
That left court five to decide matters, with Banthia dropping a close match to the115th-ranked Lagaev to end the night.
 
"These guys fought in singles like I want them to fight," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "Win or lose in that situation, to me, it's a win. Obviously, we didn't win the match, but you win so many little battles and we battled so hard as a team, that's the spirit of competition I want to see from my team. It was awesome to see us never giving up. Yuta being down 1-5, coming back. Guys battling, cramping, singing. It's what college sports should be about. Maybe the only disappointing part was the doubles. We gave it away at three doubles. We had a lead but took a step back and played a little too passively. It goes to show what the doubles point does – it gives you an incredible lead.
 
"I'm proud of the guys. I hope we compete in every single match like that for the rest of the season, and then we'd be tough to beat."
 
Cal next plays at 44th-ranked Pepperdine on March 25 and at 38th-ranked UC Santa Barbara on March 26.
 
No. 15 Arizona (13-4, 1-1 Pac-12) 4, No. 33 California (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) 3
March 18, 2023, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
 
Doubles
1. No. 58 Jay Friend/Jonas Ziverts (Arizona) def. Siddhant Banthia/Carl Emil Overbeck (Cal), 6-2
2. No. 54 Ryder Jackson/Lucas Magnaudet (Cal) def. Herman Hoeyeraal/Gustaf Strom (Arizona), 6-4
3. Nick Lagaev/Colton Smith (Arizona) def. Philip Hjorth/Yuta Kikuchi (Cal), 6-4*
 
Order of Finish – 1, 2, 3*
*Clinched the doubles point
 
Singles
1. No. 30 Yuta Kikuchi (Cal) def. No. 78 Colton Smith (Arizona), 1-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(8)
2. No. 38 Jonas Ziverts (Arizona) def. No. 94 Ryder Jackson (Cal), 6-2, 7-6(5)
3. Gustaf Strom (Arizona) def. Derrick Chen (Cal), 6-2, 6-3
4. Carl Emil Overbeck (Cal) def. No. 97 Herman Hoeyeraal (Arizona), 7-6(9), 2-6, 6-3
5. No. 115 Nick Lagaev (Arizona) def. Siddhant Banthia (Cal), 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5)^
6. Philip Hjorth (Cal) def. Jay Friend (Arizona), 6-4, 7-5
 
Order of Finish – 6, 3, 2, 4, 1, 5^
^Clinched the overall win