Monday, May 22
Orlando, FL
11:30 AM
California
vs
NCAA Singles Championship
Katja Wiersholm (left) and Jessica Alsola (right) play in NCAA doubles on Tuesday, after Alsola opens NCAA singles on Monday.
Photo by: Stephen Woo/klcfotos
5/21/2023 4:59 PM | Women's Tennis
BERKELEY – Golden Bears Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm will represent the California women's tennis team in this week's NCAA individual tournaments, with Alsola competing in the NCAA Singles Championship and the two sophomores playing in the NCAA Doubles Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Alsola, ranked 55th, will face Georgia's third-ranked and third-seeded Lea Ma on Monday at 2:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. PDT. The 12th-ranked Wiersholm and Alsola will take on North Carolina's Nos. 5-8-seeded Reese Brantmeier and Elizabeth Scotty on Tuesday, with the time of that match determined after the conclusion of Monday's singles matches.
Alsola will compete in the NCAA singles tournament for the second time. The Fresno product has compiled a 29-5 singles record – which includes a 19-2 dual-match record – and leads the Bears in wins. Alsola had a strong second season and posted a career-best 18-match winning streak in singles that was snapped in the regular-season finale. Alsola also had an excellent fall, when she won the consolation singles crown in the ITA All-American Championships.
A member of the All-Pac-12 First Team, Alsola was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team along with Wiersholm, who was an All-Pac-12 Second-Team selection. Wiersholm, who hails from Kirkland, Washington, also garnered the Golden Bear Achievement Award for compiling the Cal women's tennis team's top cumulative grade-point average. Both Bears are eligible to be named Academic All-Americans, with the CSC announcing that list on June 1.
This will mark the first appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championship for Alsola and Wiersholm. The two Bears had a strong fall, when they won the doubles title in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the consolation final of the ITA National Fall Championships. Ranked as high as fourth in the ITA doubles poll, the Bears bring a 16-13 record to Florida.
Note: Lightning has forced the matches at the USTA National Campus to move indoors. The new live scores link is available here. Fans can also follow updates of the Bears on Twitter at @CalWomensTennis.
Bears Fall To USD To End Team Season
Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm were key contributors to the 28th-ranked Cal squad's run to the postseason. After reaching the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championship, the Bears played 34th-ranked San Diego in the first round of the NCAA Championship, with Cal falling to the Toreros, 4-1, in Austin, Texas. The Bears ended the year with a 12-10 overall record and a 7-3 Pac-12 mark, with Cal claiming second place in the conference during the regular season.
Scouting Jessica Alsola & Katja Wiersholm
Scouting Reese Brantmeier & Elizabeth Scotty
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalWomensTennis), Instagram (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (@CalWomensTennis).
Alsola will compete in the NCAA singles tournament for the second time. The Fresno product has compiled a 29-5 singles record – which includes a 19-2 dual-match record – and leads the Bears in wins. Alsola had a strong second season and posted a career-best 18-match winning streak in singles that was snapped in the regular-season finale. Alsola also had an excellent fall, when she won the consolation singles crown in the ITA All-American Championships.
A member of the All-Pac-12 First Team, Alsola was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team along with Wiersholm, who was an All-Pac-12 Second-Team selection. Wiersholm, who hails from Kirkland, Washington, also garnered the Golden Bear Achievement Award for compiling the Cal women's tennis team's top cumulative grade-point average. Both Bears are eligible to be named Academic All-Americans, with the CSC announcing that list on June 1.
This will mark the first appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championship for Alsola and Wiersholm. The two Bears had a strong fall, when they won the doubles title in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the consolation final of the ITA National Fall Championships. Ranked as high as fourth in the ITA doubles poll, the Bears bring a 16-13 record to Florida.
Note: Lightning has forced the matches at the USTA National Campus to move indoors. The new live scores link is available here. Fans can also follow updates of the Bears on Twitter at @CalWomensTennis.
Bears Fall To USD To End Team Season
Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm were key contributors to the 28th-ranked Cal squad's run to the postseason. After reaching the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championship, the Bears played 34th-ranked San Diego in the first round of the NCAA Championship, with Cal falling to the Toreros, 4-1, in Austin, Texas. The Bears ended the year with a 12-10 overall record and a 7-3 Pac-12 mark, with Cal claiming second place in the conference during the regular season.
Scouting Jessica Alsola & Katja Wiersholm
- Jessica Alsola began her 18-match winning streak on Jan. 7, when the then-16th-ranked Bear defeated Iowa State's 114th-ranked Sofia Cabezas 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the Weinman Foundation Invitational in Honolulu
- Alsola's 18th consecutive win was a 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of Washington's Astrid Olsen on April 15, when No. 30 Cal routed the 19th-ranked Huskies, 6-1, in Berkeley; Katja Wiersholm beat Sarah-Maude Fortin, 6-3, 6-1, to clinch Cal's win
- Wiersholm has clinched three Cal victories and Alsola has clinched two in 2023
- Alsola and 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
- The tandem posted an 11-4 tournament record
- Alsola and Wiersholm 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
- Alsola competed in the 2022 NCAA Singles Championship, with the then-71st-ranked freshman falling to Duke's ninth-ranked Chloe Beck, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round
- Cal Athletics Hall of Famer and 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
- 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 in 2022
- Georgia's Lea Ma, who has collected wins over 14 ranked opponents, has a 30-6 singles record
- An All-SEC First-Team selection, Ma had a 10-1 singles record in conference play
- The 5-9 Ma became a singles All-American when she was named the third seed of the NCAA tournament
- In her last match, Ma lost to the Tar Heels' eighth-ranked Reese Brantmeier, 6-2, 6-4, as eventual team champion North Carolina blanked the Bulldogs, 4-0, in the NCAA semifinals
- Ma won the singles title of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in the fall
Scouting Reese Brantmeier & Elizabeth Scotty
- Reese Brantmeier and Elizabeth Scotty (14-5) earned doubles All-America honors when they were named a Nos. 5-8 seed in Florida
- Scotty and Brantmeier won a national team title when North Carolina defeated NC State, 4-1, in the final of the NCAA Championship on Saturday in Orlando
- The two Tar Heels won in doubles against the Wolfpack but paired with two other teammates in the final; Scotty and Carson Tanguilig beat Nell Miller and Amelia Rajecki, 6-1, on court two, while Brantmeier and Reilly Tran bested Sophie Abrams and Abigail Rencheli, 6-4, on court three to clinch the doubles point
- Scotty and Brantmeier last played doubles together on April 22, when they lost to Virginia's Melodie Collard and Julia Adams, 6-4, in UNC's eventual 4-0 win over the Cavaliers
- As the No. 8 seed in NCAA singles, Brantmeier is also a singles All-American
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalWomensTennis), Instagram (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (@CalWomensTennis).
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