BERKELEY – California women's tennis junior Lan Mi clinched the 16th-ranked Golden Bears' 6-1 victory over No. 57 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday in Cal's home opener at the Hellman Tennis Complex.

Mi, a junior who also clinched Cal's previous win at San Diego State, defeated the Gauchos' Katarina Vayser, 6-1, 6-2, at court-six singles to secure Sunday's win.  Senior Valentina Ivanov posted the day's final win for the Bears - a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 triumph over Camille Kiss on court two.

The Bears, who improved their record to 5-2, had played at Hellman this season in their annual Cal Fall Invitational and Cal Winter Invitational, but Sunday marked their first home dual match.
 
UCSB fell to 3-5 with the result.

With several former Bears – including recent Cal Hall of Fame inductee and former two-time NCAA champion Jana Juricova – looking on, Cal notched five straight-set singles wins in a strong performance against the Gauchos.
 
Doubles began with Cal's Katja Wiersholm and Berta Passola Folch claiming a convincing 6-1 win over Tyra Richardson and Carla Pacot on court three, but the last two doubles matches went to tiebreakers. Camille Kiss and Lucy Lu beat Cal's Jessica Alsola and Valentina Ivanov, 7-6(5), on court two. Cal's 30th-ranked Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika then edged the 35th-ranked Amelia Honer and Kira Reuter, 7-6(4), to hand the doubles point to the Bears.
 
After the teams split the first two singles contests – the 35th-ranked Alsola recorded a quick, 6-0, 6-1 win over Richardson in the first completed match – Cal led the Gauchos 2-1. Passola Folch followed with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Pacot to make the score 3-1, before the 91st-ranked Mi bested Vayser to clinch.
 
Mushika beat Lu, 6-2, 6-3, and then Ivanov wrapped up the day with her win to make final score 6-1.
 
"It's great to be back at Hellman," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "We had a great crowd, lots of alums, Jim Knowlton our Athletic Director was here, and it was just a great atmosphere with great weather. We did a good job of closing out the doubles point – it was a long doubles point – but we did a good job of taking the momentum in singles and closing out the match."
 
After their brief stop at home, the Bears open Pac-12 Conference play in the state of Arizona, as Cal takes on 42nd-ranked Arizona on March 8 in Tucson and No. 35 Arizona State on March 9 in Tempe.
 
No. 16 California (5-2) defeated No. 57 UC Santa Barbara (3-5), 6-1
Feb. 25, 2024, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
 
Doubles
1. No. 30 Mao Mushika/Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal) def. No. 35 Amelia Honer/Kira Reuter (UCSB), 7-6(4)*
2. Camille Kiss/Lucy Lu (UCSB) def. Jessica Alsola/Valentina Ivanov (Cal), 7-6(5)
3. Berta Passola Folch/Katja Wiersholm (Cal) def. Tyra Richardson/Carla Pacot (UCSB), 6-1
 
Order of Finish – 3, 2, 1*
*Clinched the doubles point for Cal
 
Singles
1. No. 62 Amelia Honer (UCSB) def. No. 32 Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal), 6-1, 6-2
2. No. 51 Valentina Ivanov (Cal) def. Camille Kiss (UCSB), 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
3. No. 35 Jessica Alsola (Cal) def. Tyra Richardson (UCSB), 6-0, 6-1
4. Mao Mushika (Cal) def. Lucy Lu (UCSB), 6-2, 6-3
5. Berta Passola Folch (Cal) def. Carla Pacot (UCSB), 6-2, 6-4
6. No. 91 Lan Mi (Cal) def. Katarina Vayser (UCSB), 6-1, 6-2^
 
Order of Finish – 3, 1, 5, 6^, 4, 2
^Clinched the overall match for Cal
 
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