The California men's tennis team will send a squad of Golden Bears to compete in the San Diego Veteran Tennis Classic from Friday through Sunday at the University of San Diego.
 
Players from USD, the U.S. Naval Academy, Grand Canyon, Oregon and UC Irvine will compete with Cal sophomores Alex Aney, Jonathan Irwanto and Ethan Schiffman and freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa in the annual event, hosted by the Toreros and the U.S. Naval Academy.
 
Here are more details for the tournament:
 
At San Diego Veteran Tennis Classic
When: Friday-Sunday, Oct. 4-6, times TBA
Where: Hogan Tennis Center, San Diego, Calif.
Watch: Live stream
ITA Tournament Page
 
Cal senior Carl Emil Overbeck and graduate student Theo Dean are currently competing in doubles at the Tiburon Challenger, a tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour based in the Bay Area town of Tiburon. Overbeck also has a wild card to compete in the singles main draw at the Solano Challenger, which starts on Sunday in Fairfield, located about 45 minutes northeast of Berkeley. The singles and doubles fields could include more Bears when the draws are posted closer to the start of the tournament.
 
Here's more information on the Solano Challenger, which was formerly called the Fairfield Challenger:
 
At Solano Challenger
When: Sunday-Sunday, Oct. 6-13, times TBA
Where: Solano College, Fairfield, Calif.
Tournament Page
 
Overbeck Impresses In Tiburon
Carl Emil Overbeck pushed professional player Dennis Kudla to three sets in the first round of the singles main draw Monday at the Tiburon Challenger, a tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour. While the Golden Bear fell 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-4 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club, he had an impressive performance, compiling a 20-10 advantage in aces against the 224th-ranked player in the world. Overbeck will partner with Theo Dean on Wednesday in Tiburon in the doubles first round.
 
Bears Show Well At ITA All-Americans
Several Bears had strong showings at the recent ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Seniors Alex Chang and Mikey Wright competed in the doubles main draw and were one victory away from qualifying for the NCAA Doubles Championship. But the 13th-ranked duo fell to Baylor's 26th-ranked Devin Badenhorst and Zsombor Velcz 7-6(2), 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals last Friday.
 
In the singles main draw, 44th-ranked Theo Dean upset the nation's top-ranked player in Michigan State's Ozan Baris 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the first round, before losing to TCU's 39th-ranked Lui Maxted in the second round 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3. Carl Emil Overbeck advanced through qualifying singles – beating Clemson's Noa Vukadin 7-5, 6-4 and North Carolina State's 90th-ranked Martin Borisiouk 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 – to join Dean in the main draw. But the 56th-ranked Bear dropped a 6-3, 7-5 result to Wake Forest's 26th-ranked Dhakshineswar Suresh in the first round.
 
Cal's Derrick Chen and Timofey Stepanov competed in pre-qualifying singles in Tulsa but did not advance.
 
3 Bears Compete At Aggie Invite
Three of the four Bears who'll compete at the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic – Alex Aney, Jonathan Irwanto and Bernado Munk Mesa – previously played in the Aggie Invitational, which ended last Sunday at UC Davis. They gained valuable match time, with Munk Mesa earning his first college win as he paired with Irwanto to beat Pacific's Terence Das and Vraj Patel 8-6 in doubles. The Cal duo went 2-0 in Davis, including an 8-4 win over the Aggies' Rithvik Katpelly and Ryan Torres. Aney posted singles wins over Eduardo Gonzalez of UC Davis 6-2, 6-4 and Cal Poly's Bastiaan Westrate 6-2, 7-5.
 
Poll Position
In the first ITA individual polls of the 2024-25 season, the Bears earned three singles rankings – No. 44 Theo Dean, No. 56 Carl Emil Overbeck and No. 123 Alex Chang – along with two doubles rankings – No. 13 Chang and Mikey Wright and No. 25 Dean and Overbeck.
 
Next Time
The Bears play in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships from Oct. 17-22 at the University of Washington, with the two singles finalists and the winning doubles team qualifying, respectively, for the NCAA Singles Championship and the NCAA Doubles Championship.
 
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