BERKELEY – The 29th-ranked California men's tennis team starts the NCAA Championship on Saturday at 10 a.m. EDT/7 a.m. PDT, when the 12-10 Golden Bears take on the 34th-ranked Louisiana State Tigers (14-10) in the first round of the NCAA Championship.
 
This marks Cal's 38th appearance in the team tournament.
 
The Bears and Tigers will play at the University of Michigan's Varsity Tennis Center, with the seventh-ranked, seventh-seeded Wolverines (24-4) also hosting Toledo (18-5) in Saturday's first round. The two first-round winners in Ann Arbor meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT/ 10 a.m. PDT in the second round, with that winner advancing to the NCAA Super Regional on May 12 or 13 on a campus site TBA.
 
The live live scores link for all the matches in Ann Arbor is available here. (Note: With Saturday's first-round matches slated to take place outdoors, a live stream is not available for Cal vs. LSU.) Fans can also keep track of the Bears on Twitter @CalMensTennis.
 
After the super regional, the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, will host the remainder of the postseason – including the team tournament's quarterfinals, semifinals and final from May 18-20 as well as the NCAA Singles Championship and the NCAA Doubles Championship. The individual tournaments are slated to run from May 22-27, with Cal graduate student Yuta Kikuchi named as one of the 64 players who will compete in NCAA singles.
 
Kikuchi, Hjorth Earn All-Pac-12 Honors                                    
Cal's Yuta Kikuchi and Philip Hjorth earned All-Pac-12 honors two days ahead of the Golden Bears' NCAA Championship opener, the conference announced on Thursday. Kikuchi, a graduate student ranked 27th in this week's ITA singles poll, is on the first team, while Hjorth, a fifth-year senior, claimed honorable mention.
 
This is the third All-Pac-12 honor for Kikuchi, who collected second-team recognition in 2022 and in 2019, when he was also named the Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year. He brings a 16-8 record, including a 12-6 mark on court one, into the postseason. The Yahaba, Japan, native will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship for the first time in late May. He also competed in the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2019 and 2022. Kikuchi was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on April 11, after he led the Bears to conference victories over No. 28 UCLA, 4-0, and No. 10 USC,4-3, in the last regular-season home matches of his career.
 
Hjorth and Kikuchi have spent much of the spring as doubles partners, compiling a 10-5 record, and the pair has clinched the doubles point in a few big matches, including in the win over the Bruins and in Cal's 4-3 upset of No. 10 USC on April 8.
 
A first-time All-Pac-12 honoree, Hjorth has produced a 14-5 overall doubles record and a 12-4 singles record. The Hrsholm, Denmark, product began his college career at Pacific, playing for the Tigers for his first two seasons, and then transferred to Cal, starting life as a Bear in the 2020-21 season. Hjorth has twice reached the singles quarterfinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, and in 2021 he earned the Sportsmanship Award at the Chowderfest, Harvard's annual fall tournament.
 
Bears Fall To Cardinal At Pac-12s
On April 27 in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Championship in Ojai, fifth-seeded Cal captured the doubles point to take an early lead over Stanford. But the fourth-seeded Cardinal prevailed, 4-2, to oust the Bears from the conference tournament at Libbey Park.

Cal dropped a 6-4 result on court two to start doubles. The Bears won the other two matches to take the doubles point, with Cal's Philip Hjorth and Derrick Chen defeating Max Basing and Neel Rajesh, 6-3, and then the 63rd-ranked Yuta Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck besting Samir Banerjee and Arthur Fery, 6-3, to clinch and give the Bears a 1-0 advantage.
 
Stanford won twice in singles to take a 2-1 lead, before Cal junior Lucas Magnaudet beat Filip Kolasinski, 6-1, 7-6(4), to tie the contest at 2-2. The Cardinal won on court three and then Aryan Chaudhary beat Cal's Siddhant Banthia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, on court six to make the final score 4-2.
 
Last Time In NCAAs
Last season, Yuta Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck represented the Bears in the NCAA Doubles Championship, with the duo reaching the round of 16.
 
Cal last played in the NCAA team tournament in 2019, when the Bears reached the round of 16. Playing in Urbana, Illinois, then-No. 24 Cal beat Drake, 4-1, in the first round and then upset the host and 15th-ranked Illini, 4-0, to advance to the round of 16. The Bears lost at No. 2 Texas, 4-0, to end their run.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Along with Cal's No. 29 team ranking and Yuta Kikuchi's No. 27 singles ranking, the Bears have two doubles rankings: No. 80 Ryder Jackson and Lucas Magnaudet (14-5) and No. 81 Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck (6-1)
• Sophomore Carl Emil Overbeck (14-13 record) has won eight of his last 11 singles matches, including a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 result over Lodewijk Westrate that clinched Cal's 4-3 upset of No. 10 USC on April 8 and a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 win over Ivailo Keremedchiev to clinch Cal's 4-3 win at No. 55 Oregon on April 21
• Overbeck leads Cal with four clinching wins this season, Yuta Kikuchi – who has won seven of his last nine in singles – has clinched three times, Philip Hjorth and Siddhant Banthia have each clinched twice, and Derrick Chen has clinched once
• 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
• Ryder Jackson – who has a 19-15 singles record – had an impressive first fall as a Bear, reaching the singles final of the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships and competing in singles in the ITA National Fall Championships
• Overbeck shone in doubles and singles in the fall, 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 Tigers

• LSU won its last three matches of the regular season – capped by a 4-1 win over No. 71 Vanderbilt – but then lost to No. 7 Ole Miss, 4-3, in the SEC Tournament
• Ronnie Hohmann – who is ranked 67th in singles – is an alternate for the NCAA Singles Championship
• Hohmann and Nick Watson are ranked 31st in doubles
• Danny Brian is in his first season as head coach of Michigan

 
Scouting the Wolverines

• Michigan lost to third-ranked Ohio State, 4-0, in the Big Ten Tournament final on April 30
• Five Wolverines are ranked in singles: No. 8 Ondrej Styler, No. 20 Andrew Fenty, No. 44 Patrick Maloney, No. 50 Ozan Baris and 63 Gavin Young
• The pair of Young and Fenty is ranked seventh in doubles
• Styler – with the Big 10's automatic berth – Fenty and Maloney will compete in NCAA singles, with Young an alternate for the singles tournament
• Young and Fenty earned the Big 10's automatic berth to the NCAA Doubles Championship
• Adam Steinberg is in his ninth season as head coach of the Wolverines

 
Scouting the Rockets

• Toledo earned the Mid-American Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship by beating Western Michigan, 4-3, in the conference tournament final
• The Rockets were 8-2 in the MAC during the regular season
• Pawit Sornlaksup was named the MAC Player of the Year
• Sornlaksup and Krzysztof Wetoszka earned All-MAC first-team honors, while Adam Kovac was named to the All-MAC second team
• Al Wermer – in his 27th year as Toledo's head coach – was named the 2023 MAC Coach of the Year

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