BERKELEY – The California men's tennis team begins its final season in the Pac-12 Conference this weekend, with the Golden Bears hosting No. 52 Oregon and No. 74 Washington.
 
Match Details
 
Cal (4-6) vs. No. 52 Oregon (11-5)
When: Saturday, March 16, Noon PT
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: Livestream
 
Cal (4-6) vs. No. 74 Oregon (6-5)
When: Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m. PT
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: Livestream
 
Last Time Out: Cal Falls To Mustangs
Cal fell to No. 58 Southern Methodist, 5-2, on Sunday in Dallas, with Alex Chang and Timofey Stepanov winning in singles for the Golden Bears.
 
SMU took the doubles point, clinching when the 44th-ranked Adam Neff and Huntley Allen defeated Cal's Mikey Wright and Carl Emil Overbeck, 6-3, on court one. The Mustangs reeled off three straight wins in singles to take a 4-0 lead and clinched the overall match when Jerry Barton beat John Kim, 6-2, 6-2. SMU won a fourth straight to lead 5-0.
 
On court three, Chang split the first two sets with Eric Hadigian before taking the match tiebreaker to win 6-2, 2-6, 1-0(9). In the day's last match, Stepanov bested Maks Silagy, 7-6(5), 6-7, 1-0(13), on court five to make the final score 5-2.
 
Last Time Vs. Ducks, Huskies
The Bears previously faced this weekend's Pac-12 rivals last year in the Pacific Northwest, where they beat Oregon, 4-3, but lost to Washington, 4-3.
 
Against the 55th-ranked Ducks, Carl Emil Overbeck settled a back-and-forth affair when he bested Ivailo Keremedchiev, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5, to secure the victory for No. 28 Cal. The Bears also got singles wins from Philip Hjorth and Yuta Kikuchi, and they clinched the doubles point with a win from the 88th-ranked duo of Overbeck and Kikuchi.
 
In the regular-season finale at No. 56 UW, Cal got singles wins from Kikuchi, Overbeck and Lucas Magnaudet. But the Bears lost to the Huskies when Derrick Chen fell to Dzianis Zharyn, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
 
Poll Position
Two Bears are ranked in the latest ITA singles poll in No. 67 Ryder Jackson and No. 107 Carl Emil Overbeck. In doubles, the duo of Mikey Wright and Alex Chang is ranked 65th.
 
Scouting the Bears

• China native Qian Sun – a 22-year-old sophomore with a career-best ATP doubles ranking of 470 – signed with the Cal in February
• The Bears – who start play in the ACC next season – finished last season with a 4-4 Pac-12 record to take fifth place in the conference
• The nationally ranked Ryder Jackson has records of 5-3 in singles and 5-4 in doubles
• Berkeley natives Mikey Wright and Alex Chang have a 2-0 doubles record; Chang is 15-7 in doubles overall and Wright is 14-9
• Sophomore Jonathan Irwanto (16-10) leads the Bears in singles wins
• Both Chang (15-8) and Timofey Stepanov (14-11) won twice in singles during the Feb. 3 doubleheader vs. UC Davis
• Carl Emil Overbeck (vs. UCSD), Chang (vs. Pepperdine), Stepanov (vs. UC Davis) and John Kim (vs. UC Davis) have each clinched a Cal win this season
• Overbeck, who has records of 13-11 in singles and 11-8 in doubles, captured the singles title at the Jack Kramer Invitational to close the first half of the season
• Kris Kwinta (UCLA '08) is in his third season as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis
• Francis Sargeant (BYU '15) is in his third season as a Cal assistant coach
• Former Santa Clara star Vasileios Iliopoulos is in his first season as a Cal assistant coach

Scouting the Ducks

• Oregon plays its Pac-12 opener at Stanford on Friday
• A 4-2 nonconference win at Washington in their last match snapped a three-match losing streak for the Ducks
• Quinn Vandecasteele is ranked 101st in singles
• The duo of Vandecasteele and Matthew Burton is ranked 33rd in doubles
• Nils Schyllander is in his 18th year as head coach of Oregon

Scouting the Huskies

• Washington plays at Stanford on Saturday in its Pac-12 opener
• The Huskies' March 7 loss to Oregon in Seattle snapped a three-match win streak
• Cesar Bouchelaghem and Dzianis Zharyn are ranked 17th in doubles
• Rahim Esmail is in his second season as head coach of the Huskies

Next Time
Cal plays San Francisco on Wednesday at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco.
 
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