BERKELEY – With the race for the Pac-12 Conference regular-season title down to its last couple of weeks, the ninth-ranked California women's tennis team wings its way to the Evergreen State for pivotal matches at No. 26 Washington on Friday and at Washington State on Saturday.
 
Four teams – including 6-1 Cal – have each lost once in the conference, with No. 10 USC and No. 15 UCLA leading the way at 7-1. Third-ranked Stanford is 5-1. At stake is the top seed in the Pac-12 tournament slated for April 24-27 in Ojai. If the Los Angeles teams defeat Oregon this week, the Golden Bears would tie them in the Pac-12 standings at 8-1 if the Bears defeat UW and WSU. The Cardinal – which suffered a rainout of its March 23 Colorado match – also plays the Washington teams this week and visits Cal on April 19 in the regular-season finale.
 
Match Details
 
No. 9 Cal (14-4, 6-1 Pac-12) at No. 26 Washington (15-7, 4-3)
When: Friday, April 12, 1:30 p.m. PT
Where: Quillian Tennis Stadium/Nordstrom Tennis Center, Seattle, Wash.
Watch: Livestream
Scores: StatBroadcast
 
No. 10 Cal (14-4, 6-1 Pac-12) at Washington State (10-8, 1-6)
When: Saturday, April 13, 11 a.m. PT
Where: WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts/Hollingbery Fieldhouse, Pullman, Wash.
Watch: Hollingbery Fieldhouse Livestream
Scores: StatBroadcast
 
Last Time: Cal Tops No. 59 Oregon, No. 3 Pepperdine
Cal beat two nationally ranked opponents last week, blasting No. 59 Oregon, 6-1, on Friday and edging No. 3 Pepperdine, 4-3, in a thriller Saturday.
 
Jessica Alsola led a strong performance in the drubbing of the Ducks. The Cal junior clinched the victory with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Nina Geissler and was one of five Bears to prevail in straight sets in singles. Alsola also partnered with Katja Wiersholm to clinch the doubles point, with the duo defeating Tilde Jagare and Uxia Martinez Moral, 6-1, on court two. The Bears wrapped up the match in a relatively quick two hours and 10 minutes.
 
The third time was the charm for the Bears against the Waves, with freshman Mao Mushika clinching the win in the third meeting between the teams this season. Cal dropped the two previous matches against the Waves, but Saturday's contest was the first of the three played at the Hellman Tennis Complex, where the Golden Bears are 7-1 this year.
 
After dropping the doubles point, the Bears rebounded in singles, with the 44th-ranked Hannah Viller Moeller collecting an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over the 10th-ranked Lisa Zaar on court one and then Cal junior Lan Mi besting Vivian Yang, 6-3, 6-3, to give Cal a 2-1 lead.
 
Two losses left Cal trailing 3-2.
 
The final two matches of the day featured intense three-setters. Wiersholm posted another impressive Cal win, as the 65th-ranked junior beat the eighth-ranked Broadus, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to tie the match 3-3. On court four, Mushika finally secured the Bears' 4-3 win when she defeated the 90th-ranked Anna Campana, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4, for the first-year Bear's fourth clinching win of the season.
 
Last Time Vs. Huskies, Cougars
Cal beat Washington earlier this season, 4-1, when the teams met in the consolation bracket Feb. 11 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. The Bears claimed the doubles point for the second time in three matches in Seattle when Valentina Ivanov and Jessica Alsola beat Sarah-Maude Fortin and Erika Matsuda, 7-5, on court two. Mao Mushika defeated Melissa Sakar, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, at court-four singles to clinch the victory.
 
Last season, Cal throttled Washington State, 6-1, in Berkeley. Katja Wiersholm beat Elyse Tse, 7-6(5), 6-1, to clinch the win. The ninth-ranked pair of Wiersholm and Jessica Alsola clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win over the 53rd-ranked duo of Tse and Eva Alvarez Sande.
 
Poll Position
After winning twice last week – and in particular defeating then-No. 3 Pepperdine – Cal moved up one spot in this week's ITA team poll to No. 9. The Bears have five rankings in the new ITA individual polls, with Mao Mushika and Hannah Viller Moeller remaining in the No. 22 spot of the doubles rankings. In singles, Viller Moeller is ranked 39th, Katja Wiersholm is 42nd, Valentina Ivanov is 46th and Jessica Alsola is 72nd.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Including her singles victory against Pepperdine, Mao Mushika now leads Cal with four clinching wins on the season and has a 23-7 singles record
• The first-year Bear has also clinched a 6-1 rout of Hawaii, a 4-1 win over No. 21 Washington at national indoors and a 5-2 win over No. 41 Arizona in the Pac-12 opener
• Mushika also has partnered with Hannah Viller Moeller all season to post a 24-8 doubles record
• The duo won the title of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the round of 16 in the ITA National Fall Championships
• Viller Moeller has a 20-17 singles record after winning against the Ducks and Waves
• In the fall, the senior won the singles title in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the singles quarterfinals of the ITA National Fall Championships
• In the fall, Jessica Alsola (now 20-15) 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
• Also 24-8 in doubles, Alsola is 14-4 (including 13-4 at court-two doubles) when partnered with senior Valentina Ivanov
• Ivanov – named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on March 26 (see below) – has records of 15-7 in singles and 17-6 in doubles
• Two of Ivanov's singles wins clinched Cal victories over San Diego and Colorado
• Katja Wiersholm improved to 23-5 in singles and 17-11 in doubles last week
• Wiersholm has clinched a total of three Cal wins, including the 4-0 season-opening win over Illinois, a 6-1 thrashing of Utah and a 4-3 win over UCLA
• The junior also won the top-flight singles title at the Cal Fall Invitational and advanced to the quarterfinals at regionals
• Lan Mi, who posted a 16-match win streak in singles between mid-October and late January, has clinched three Cal wins – a 5-2 win at San Diego State, a 6-1 rout of UCSB and, in the ITA Kickoff Weekend at Oklahoma, a 4-3 win over No. 16 Oklahoma that qualified the Bears for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship
• A junior who has a team-best singles record of 35-5, Mi won the top-flight singles crown at the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational in October
• Along with Mushika's four clinching wins, Mi's three, Wiersholm's three, Ivanov's two and Alsola's one, Cal's other clinching win came courtesy of Berta Passola Folch, who secured Cal's 4-3 result at No. 30 Arizona State
• A product of Barcelona, Spain, Passola Folch has an 18-7 singles record
• This season marks Cal's last run in the Pac-12, as the Bears will compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) beginning next year
• Cal is one of 10 Pac-12 teams ranked in Tuesday's ITA team poll
• 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 Huskies

• Washington has won five of its last six dual matches, with the Huskies losing, 4-0, at No. 38 Arizona State and winning, 4-0, at No. 43 Arizona in their last two contests
• Alexia Jacobs is ranked 88th in singles
• In doubles, Jacobs and Astrid Olsen are ranked 69th, while Catherine Gagnon and Melissa Sakar are ranked 78th
• Robin Stephenson is in her 10th year as Washington's head coach

 
Scouting the Cougars

• Washington State hosts Stanford on Friday
• The Cougars have lost three straight – at Oregon, 4-3, at Arizona State, 4-2, and at Arizona, 5-2
• WSU's lone Pac-12 win was a 4-2 result over Colorado in March
• Cal Athletics Hall of Famer Raquel Atawo, who played 15 years on the WTA Tour, is in her third season as head coach of WSU
• Atawo – as Raquel Kops-Jones – was a five-time All-American for the Bears who captured the 2003 NCAA doubles championship as well as the 2002 and 2003 Pac-10 doubles titles with Christina Fusano
• Atawo, who also won the 2003 Pac-10 singles title and was named the 2004 Pac-10 Singles Player of the Year, is married to former Cal track & field Bear Toby Atawo

Ivanov Named Pac-12 Player Of The Week
Valentina Ivanov was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for her part in the Bears' wins over Hawaii, Colorado and No. 45 Utah, the conference office announced March 26. The veteran Bear won all three of her singles matches – clinching the 6-1 thumping of the Buffaloes – and paired with Jessica Alsola to capture all three of their doubles matches.
 
This award marks Cal's first conference weekly honor of the season.
 
Ivanov and the Bears played their opponents over three consecutive days (March 21-23) at the Hellman Tennis Complex, where the veteran defeated Hawaii's Ana Vilcek, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0(8), Colorado's Aya El Sayed, 6-3, 6-3, and Utah's 100th-ranked Marcela Lopez, 6-4, 6-2, in singles. Ivanov played the last two contests on court one. Ivanov's clinching win against Colorado was her second of the season, as she also clinched Cal's 4-3 triumph over No. 15 San Diego on March 16.
 
Playing at court-two doubles, Ivanov and Alsola beat the Rainbow Wahine's Vilcek and Nikola Homolkova, 6-1, Colorado's Elys Ventura and Mila Stanojevic, 6-3, and the Utes' Sara Akid and Kaila Barksdale, 6-0, as Cal captured the doubles point in all three matches.
 
Next Time
Cal returns to the Hellman Tennis Complex to host Stanford on April 19 in the Big Slam and regular-season finale.
 
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