SEATTLE – The 15th-ranked California women's tennis team faced a top-10 opponent for the second straight day at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, with the Golden Bears falling to sixth-ranked Pepperdine, 4-2, on Saturday in the consolation bracket at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
 
The record for the Bears – who lost to fifth-ranked Michigan, 4-2, on Friday – is now 2-2. Pepperdine improved to 3-2.
 
The Bears will play one more consolation match at national indoors Sunday, taking on the losing team from the Saturday night contest between host and 21st-ranked Washington and 16th-ranked USC at a time and site to be announced.
 
On Saturday in doubles, the Bears got a win from Valentina Ivanov and Jessica Alsola, who defeated the Waves' Anna Campana and Nikki Redelijk, 6-2, on court two. Pepperdine took the court-one match, leaving court three to settle the point. After a tight battle, Cal's Katja Wiersholm and Berta Passola Folch fell to Jasmine Conway and Lisa Zaar, 6-4, and the Waves took a 1-0 lead.
 
The teams traded wins through the first four singles matches – with Cal's Lan Mi besting Conway, 6-2, 6-4, on court six and the 19th-ranked Wiersholm topping 89th-ranked Campana, 6-4, 6-3, on court four – to leave the Bears trailing, 3-2.
 
Freshman Bear Mao Mushika looked to be on her way towards a victory – leading the 106th-ranked Redelijk 7-6(3), 4-2 – when the 15th-ranked Zaar completed a 6-2, 7-5 win over Cal's 21st-ranked Hannah Viller Moeller on court one to end the match.
 
"Mao was leading and about to win on court five, Hannah was a couple points away from getting to a third set, and we know how many third sets Hannah was won for this team," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "Lan and Katja had good wins, and this was a very close match that came down to a couple of points here and there. We're playing against the top teams in the country – we're also one of the top teams in the country – and we have one more opportunity tomorrow."
 
Cal lost the doubles point Saturday for the first time this year.
 
"It was a very competitive doubles point, and we had a very solid win on court two," Augustus said. "It didn't quite go our way, but we played at a very high level again in doubles. I'm very pleased with what we're doing. We're getting better every match we play, and this is just our fourth match. Some teams have already played eight or nine."
 
Saturday's match marked the first of three meetings between Cal and Pepperdine this season, including the Bears' March 17 visit to Malibu and an April 6 clash in Berkeley. That contrasts with spring 2023, when rain wiped out two scheduled matches between the teams.
 
"We'll continue to improve," Augustus said, "and we'll see them again next month."

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