The 15th-ranked California women's tennis team heads north this week for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, with the Golden Bears opening the tournament vs. fifth-ranked and fourth-seeded Michigan in the first round on Friday at 9 a.m. PT at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.
 
The annual tournament features 16 of the top teams in the nation – including defending champion, top-ranked and top-seeded North Carolina - competing over four days for the ITA national indoor crown. Cal is one of four Pac-12 teams – including second-seeded Stanford, USC and Washington – vying for the championship in Seattle. In 2016, Cal head coach Amanda Augustus led the Bears to the national indoor title, marking the program's first national team championship.
 
Match information

ITA National Team Indoor Championship - First Round
 
Cal (2-0) Vs. Michigan (5-1)
When: Friday, Feb. 9, 11 a.m. PT
Where: Nordstrom Tennis Center, Seattle, Wash.
Watch: Nordstrom Tennis Center Livestream, Cracked Racquets Livestream
 
The winner between Cal and Michigan advances to Saturday's quarterfinal round, slated for 9 a.m. PT at the Nordstrom Tennis Center, to face the winner of the first-round contest between fifth-seeded Pepperdine and Virginia. The semifinals take place on Sunday, and the final is set for Monday at noon PT.
 
Some of the matches at ITA national indoors will take place at the Seattle Tennis Club.
 
Last Time Out: Bears Sweep Through Norman To Advance
Cal defeated Illinois, 4-0, on Jan. 27 and then beat host and No. 16 Oklahoma, 4-3, on Jan. 28 to claim the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Norman and advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
 
Cal won the doubles point in both matches. The relatively new duo of Jessica Alsola and Valentina Ivanov (3-0 record) clinched both points, beating Kida Ferrari and Violeta Martinez of Illinois, 6-2, and topping OU's Julia Garcia Ruiz and Chloe Noel, 6-2.
 
Katja Wiersholm, ranked 36th in singles at the time, clinched the win over Illinois when she beat Josie Frazier, 6-1, 6-2, on court four. Lan Mi secured the victory over the Sooners and booked the Bears' ticket to Seattle when she bested Emma Staker, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, at court-six singles.
 
Poll Position
After the Bears' strong fall and equally strong start to 2024, Cal earned seven rankings in the ITA individual polls released Wednesday – Doubles: No. 16 Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika. Singles: No. 19 Katja Wiersholm, No. 21 Hannah Viller Moeller, No. 22 Jessica Alsola, No. 51 Valentina Ivanov, No. 71 Lan Mi and No. 105 Berta Passola Folch. Cal remains at No. 15 in the team poll; the ITA will release its next team rankings Feb. 14.
 
Amanda Augustus At Michigan
Now in her 17th year as head coach at Cal, Amanda Augustus was previously the head coach at Michigan, leading the Wolverines to a 17-8 record and the NCAA second round in 2006-07. She was also an assistant coach at Michigan for the 2005-06 season. The 1999 Cal graduate left the Maize and Blue to succeed Jan Brogan as the head coach of the Blue & Gold in 2007.
 
2016 ITA National Indoors
Led by multiple All-Americans – including Maegan Manasse, Zsofi Susanyi, Lynn Chi, Denise Starr, Klara Fabikova and Karla Popovic – Cal captured the title at the 2016 National Team Indoor Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, with freshman Olivia Hauger clinching a 4-3 victory over North Carolina in the final.
 
Hauger defeated Marika Akkerman, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, to clinch fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Cal's win over the third-seeded and fifth-ranked Tar Heels at Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
 
Leading up to the final, Cal blanked the host Badgers, 4-0, with Chi clinching the first-round win, Starr clinched a 4-1 triumph over No. 7 Virginia in the quarterfinals and Popovic clinched Cal's 4-3 semifinal victory over 16th-ranked Ohio State.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Hannah Viller Moeller – who is currently 14-6 in singles – won the singles title in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and built a 13-2 record to earn her No. 12 ranking in the fall
• Viller Moeller capped the first half of the season by reaching the singles quarterfinals of the ITA National Fall Championships
• The 14th-ranked Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika – who have an 18-3 doubles record – won the title of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the round of 16 in the ITA National Fall Championships
• In the fall Jessica Alsola (now 15-7) reached the consolation final of the ITA National Fall Championships, advanced through the qualifying rounds to the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships – in which she reached the quarterfinals – and reached the round of 16 in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships

• Katja Wiersholm – who hails from the Seattle suburb of Kirkland – had an impressive start to 2023-24, including winning the top-flight singles title at the Cal Fall Invitational and advancing to the quarterfinals at regionals
• Valentina Ivanov – who has a singles record of 7-1 – was 7-0 before suffering her first loss (to Julia Garcia Ruiz, 6-1, 6-2) in the 4-3 win at Oklahoma
• Newly ranked Lan Mi (22-2) has won 16 straight singles matches; the junior won the top-flight singles crown at the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational in October
• A product of Barcelona, Spain, Berta Passola Folch has a 13-6 singles record
• Cal Athletics Hall of Famer and two-time NCAA doubles champion Amanda Augustus – the 2021 Pac-12 Coach of the Year and five-time ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year – is in her 17th year as head coach at her alma mater
• Assistant coach and former Cal men's tennis player Sean Hill is in his second year on the Cal staff

Scouting the Wolverines

• Michigan began the season with a 4-2 loss at No. 5 Oklahoma State but has since won five straight, including a 4-3 result at No. 13 Oklahoma, a pair of 4-0 victories over Utah and Arkansas in the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Ann Arbor, a 5-2 win over No. 11 Virginia at home and a 4-1 win over No. 8 Florida on Tuesday at home
• Four Wolverines are ranked in singles: No. 9 Kari Miller, No. 18 Julie Fliegner, No. 57 Lily Jones and No. 124 Gala Mesochoritou
• The pair of Miller and Jaedan Brown is ranked fifth in doubles
• Ronni Bernstein followed Amanda Augustus as head coach of the Wolverines and is in her 17th year with Michigan

Next Time
Cal remains on the road to play at San Diego State on Feb. 18 and at UCLA on Feb. 19.
 
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