Bears Head To ITA West Sectionals - California Golden Bears Athletics

Thursday, November 7

Malibu, Calif.

TBA

California

ITA West Sectional Championships

Theo Dean, west regionals preview graphic

Theo Dean and the Bears seek to qualify for the postseason at ITA regionals at Pepperdine.

Photo by: ITA

11/5/2024 11:09 PM | Men's Tennis

Live Stream Draws

By: Cal Athletics

With one more chance to secure berths in the NCAA individual championships, the California men's tennis team is sending six Golden Bears to compete in the ITA West Sectional Championships starting Thursday at Pepperdine. Theo Dean, Alex Chang, Timofey Stepanov and Derrick Chen will play at sectionals in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Singles Championship. The duos of Chang and Mikey Wright, Dean and Carl Emil Overbeck, and Chen and Stepanov are playing at sectionals to attempt to advance to the NCAA Doubles Championship.

From each of the four ITA sectionals – Central, South, East and West – taking place this week, six singles players (the semifinalists and two quarterfinal playoff winners) and three doubles pairs (the champion, runner-up and third-place team) will qualify for NCAAs.

Here's more information for this week's event:

At ITA West Sectional Championships
Where: Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, Malibu, Calif.
When: Thursday-Sunday, times TBA
Watch: Live Stream
Draws

Scouting the Bears

Senior Carl Emil Overbeck has had a stellar fall, capturing the singles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, finishing with Theo Dean as the doubles runners-up at regionals, and winning the singles title and, with Dean, the doubles crown at the Battle in the Bay Classic
Overbeck qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship by virtue of reaching the ITA Northwest Regional Championships singles final in October
In the ITA rankings, Overbeck (16-2 record) is ranked 56th in singles and the doubles team of Overbeck and Dean (8-3) is ranked 25th
Overbeck's Battle in the Bay singles title came with a wild card into the Tiburon Challenger, a Bay Area professional tournament
In the Battle in the Bay singles quarterfinals, Overbeck upset top-ranked Ozan Baris of Michigan State 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
Also at the Battle in the Bay Classic, Overbeck won a singles shootout that earned him wild-card entry to the Solano Challenger, another pro tournament
Theo Dean, a graduate transfer from Yale, has shone in his first few months as a Golden Bear, pairing with Overbeck to reach the doubles final at ITA regionals and win the doubles title at the Battle in the Bay Classic as well as upsetting top-ranked Baris 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the ITA All-American Championships singles round of 64
Dean, who is ranked 44th in singles with a 10-5 record, also reached the singles semifinals at regionals
The 123rd-ranked Alex Chang (9-4) was another Bear who was impressive in regional singles, reaching the semifinals but falling to Overbeck 6-3, 6-4
Chang, a senior, went on to defeat Dean, 6-3, 6-4 in the regional third-place match
The No. 13 doubles team of Chang and senior Mikey Wright (5-3) beat Texas Tech's seventh-ranked Piotr Pawlak and Sebastian Abboud 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 and Vanderbilt's 86th-ranked Henry Ruger and Hugo Coquelin 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals at the ITA All-American Championships
Wright and Chang also reached the regional doubles quarterfinals
Timofey Stepanov, a sophomore, is 4-3 in singles
Stepanov and Derrick Chen (2-3) advanced to the regional doubles quarterfinals
Chen, a senior, is 6-3 in singles, with one of his wins coming against Pepperdine's 103rd-ranked Maxi Homberg
Kris Kwinta (UCLA '08) is in his fourth season as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis
As a UCLA player, Kwinta clinched the Bruins' 4-3, NCAA championship win over Baylor in 2005
Andrea Caligiana (Wichita State '20) is in his first season as a Cal assistant coach
Former Santa Clara star Vasileios Iliopoulos is in his second season as a Cal assistant coach

Bears Tune Up For Sectionals In SoCal, Dallas
Before heading to Malibu, most of the Bears competed last Friday through Sunday in one of two tournaments – the Dennis Rizza Intercollegiate Classic in Rolling Hills Estates or the Ralston/Neufeld Coaches Challenge at SMU in Dallas.

The Cal group in the Southern California tournament finished a dominant Sunday, winning 12 out of 13 matches in the event at the Jack Kramer Club. Overall, the Bears went 4-0 in doubles and 8-1 in singles. Cal's Alex Aney, Derrick Chen and Mikey Wright began singles matches against three Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, but rain halted the action. Once play resumed Sunday, Chen defeated Alexander Rozin 6-4, 6-2 and Wright beat Santiago Padilla Cote 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-4, while Aney fell to Oskar Jansson 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2.

The Bears completed play at the Ralston/Neufeld Coaches Challenge in impressive fashion, capturing five of their six Sunday matches. Cal won both of its doubles matches – sophomores Jonathan Irwanto and Timofey Stepanov beat Texas-San Antonio's Danijal Muminovic and Oskar Grzegorzewski 6-4, while freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa and sophomore Ethan Schiffman bested UTSA's Sergei Haug and Santiago Flyckt 6-4. The Bears also faced the Roadrunners in singles, with Stepanov defeating Muminovic 6-1, 6-2, Munk Mesa knocking off Flyckt 7-5, 6-3, and Schiffman beating Haug 6-1, 6-1. In Cal's lone loss of the day, Irwanto fell to Grzegorzewski 6-4, 6-4.

Next Time
Carl Emil Overbeck and any of his teammates who advance to the postseason will compete in the NCAA individual championship from Nov. 19-24 at Baylor in Waco, Texas.

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