No. 28 Cal Visits Waves, Gauchos

BERKELEY – The 28th-ranked California men's tennis team closes out its nonconference schedule this weekend by visiting No. 40 Pepperdine and No. 32 UC Santa Barbara. The Golden Bears (9-4) play the Waves (6-7) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and face the Gauchos (14-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Fans can watch the Pepperdine match and track live scores in Malibu by clicking here and can watch the UCSB contest here. Please stay tuned to @CalMensTennis on Twitter for updates.

Poll Position
Cal improved five spots in Tuesday's ITA team rankings, moving from 33rd to 28th. In the ITA singles poll, Yuta Kikuchi (9-3) is ranked 46th and Ryder Jackson (16-8) is ranked 120th. In doubles, Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck (4-0) are ranked 63rd, while Jackson and Lucas Magnaudet (8-1) are ranked 64th.

Scouting the Bears

Cal has a 26-34 record in the all-time series with Pepperdine, though the Bears defeated the Waves, 4-2, in the teams' last meeting in 2017
The Bears have a 30-1 all-time record against UCSB, including a 4-1 victory over the Gauchos' in their last clash in 2019
Ryder Jackson had an impressive fall, reaching the singles final of the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships and competing in singles in the ITA National Fall Championships
Yuta Kikuchi posted a big win In the Hawaii Invitational on Jan. 9, defeating Duke's fourth-ranked Garrett Johns, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0(5)
In the fall, Kikuchi won his first professional singles title when he took the crown at the Norman Open in Oklahoma; the Japan native also reached the singles final of the KPSF Open in San Francisco
Sophomore Carl Emil Overbeck has shone in doubles and singles, joining Jackson in the singles semifinals of super regionals and teaming with Kikuchi to repeat as doubles champs in the Battle in the Bay Classic in September
The duo of sophomore Mikey Wright and freshman John Kim won the doubles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Berkeley in October
Kris Kwinta (UCLA '08) is in his second season as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis
Former BYU player Francis Sargeant is in his second year as a Cal assistant coach

Scouting the Waves

Pepperdine hosts LMU on Saturday at 10 a.m.
In their last two matches, both in Malibu, the Waves lost to No. 11 Columbia, 4-2, on March 15 and beat No. 31 Oklahoma State, 4-3, on March 16
Daniel De Jonge is ranked 62nd and Tim Zeitvogel is ranked 79th in singles
The duo of Zeitvogel and De Jonge is ranked 58th in doubles
Adam Schaechterle is in his fifth season as Pepperdine's head coach

Scouting the Gauchos

UCSB has won five consecutive dual matches
In their last two outings, the Gauchos beat No. 62 Yale, 4-3, on March 15 and topped No. 72 Indiana, 4-3, on March 16 in Santa Barbara
UCSB's only loss of the season was a 4-3 result at Pepperdine on Feb. 19
The doubles pair of Kai Brady and Phillip Jordan is ranked 57th
Blake Muller is in his second year as head coach of UCSB

Next Time
Cal returns to Pac-12 Conference play for the rest of the regular season, starting with a trip to Salt Lake City to play No. 31 Utah on April 2.

Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalMensTennis), Instagram (@CalMensTennis) and Facebook (@CalMensTennis).