No. 10 Cal Hosts Ducks, No. 3 Waves

Friday, April 5

Berkeley, CA

1:30 PM

California

Oregon

Lan Mi and the Bears host two more nationally ranked opponents this week at Hellman.

Photo by: Robert Edwards/KLC fotos

4/3/2024 4:28 PM | Women's Tennis

Hellman Tennis Complex Livestream Live Scores Links

Saturday's Pepperdine Match Part Of Doubleheader With Men's Tennis

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – The 10th-ranked California women's tennis team hosts another pair of nationally ranked opponents this week at the Hellman Tennis Complex, starting with No. 59 Oregon on Friday and ending with third-ranked Pepperdine on Saturday. The latter contest is part of a doubleheader with the Cal men's tennis team, which hosts Utah at Hellman after the Golden Bears-Waves clash.

The two women's matches end a long homestand for the Bears, who hit the road next week before returning to Berkeley to host the Big Slam in the regular-season finale.

Match Details

No. 10 Cal (12-4, 5-1 Pac-12) vs. No. 59 Oregon (10-8, 1-5)
When: Friday, April 5, 1:30 p.m. PT
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: Livestream
Scores: StatInput
Admission: Free

No. 10 Cal (12-4) vs. No. 3 Pepperdine (11-3)
When: Saturday, April 6, Noon PT
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: Livestream
Scores: StatInput
Admission: Free

Last Time: Cal Bests Bruins, Falls To Trojans
Last weekend featured some high-quality tennis at the Hellman Tennis Complex, with No. 17 UCLA and No. 9 USC in town. The Bears edged the Bruins, 4-3, on Saturday but fell to the Trojans, 4-3, on Sunday.

Katja Wiersholm clinched a Cal victory for the second straight match, when the junior bested UCLA's 72nd-ranked Bianca Fernandez, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Cal also got singles wins from Mao Mushika and Jessica Alsola. The Bears took a 1-0 lead when the 23rd-ranked pair of Mushika and Hannah Viller Moeller beat the Bruins' Elise Wagle and Tian Fangran, 6-4, on court one to clinch the doubles point.

Mushika, Valentina Ivanov and Lan Mi recorded singles wins against the Trojans, but they weren't enough as the then-11th-ranked Bears fell in a nailbiter to ninth-ranked USC in a match postponed from Friday due to rain. The setback was the Bears' first Pac-12 Conference loss and their first home loss this season. The Trojans clinched their victory when Emma Charney defeated Viller Moeller in singles.

Last Time Vs. Waves, Ducks
Cal plays Pepperdine on Saturday for the third time this season. On Feb. 10, Cal fell 4-2 to the Waves in the consolation bracket of the ITA National Indoor Team Championship in Seattle, with the Bears getting singles wins from Lan Mi and Katja Wiersholm. The March 17 rematch in Malibu featured another singles win from Mi, but the Bears lost 6-1 to snap a six-match win streak.

The Bears last played the Ducks in Eugene, Oregon, on April 9, 2023, with Wiersholm clinching a 6-1 rout of the Ducks. Down 1-0 after doubles, the Bears responded in a big way in singles. They won five of six first sets, starting with Berta Passola Folch blanking Madisen Olsen, 6-0, 6-0. Alsola quickly followed with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sophie Luescher, and then Haley Giavara defeated Ares Teixido Garcia 6-1, 6-4, to give Cal a 3-1 lead. Wiersholm posted another straight-set result – 6-2, 6-3 over Myah Petchey – to secure Cal's win. Hannah Viller Moeller added a 6-2, 6-2 win over Karin Young, and Valentina Ivanov bested Uxia Martinez Moral 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 to close out the match.

Poll Position
Cal returned to the No. 10 spot in the ITA team poll this week after splitting with the Los Angeles teams. The pair of Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika also improved one spot, earning a No. 22 doubles ranking. Four Bears are ranked in singles this week in No. 44 Viller Moeller, No. 47 Valentina Ivanov, No. 65 Katja Wiersholm and No. 74 Jessica Alsola.

Scouting the Bears

Valentina Ivanov – last week's Pac-12 Player of the Week (see below) – improved to 15-7 in singles with her 6-4, 6-1 win over USC's 93rd-ranked Snow Han on Sunday
Two of Ivanov's singles wins clinched Cal victories over San Diego and Colorado
Katja Wiersholm, who clinched the win over UCLA, improved to 21-5 in singles and 16-11 in doubles over the weekend
Wiersholm has clinched a total of three Cal wins, including the 4-0 season-opening win over Illinois and a 6-1 thrashing of Utah
The junior also won the top-flight singles title at the Cal Fall Invitational and advanced to the quarterfinals at regionals
Hannah Viller Moeller – who is 18-17 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
Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika – who have a 23-7 doubles record – won the title of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the round of 16 in the ITA National Fall Championships
Mushika, who has gone 15-4 in 2024, has a 22-6 singles record
In the fall, Jessica Alsola (now 19-14) 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 23-8 in doubles, Alsola is 14-4 (including 13-4 at court-two doubles) when partnered with Ivanov

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 33-5, Mi won the top-flight singles crown at the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational in October
Along with Mi's three clinching wins, Wiersholm's three and Ivanov's two, Cal's other clinching wins came courtesy of Mushika, who clinched the result over Colorado, 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; and Berta Passola Folch, who secured Cal's 4-3 result at No. 30 Arizona State
A product of Barcelona, Spain, Passola Folch has a 17-6 singles record
This season marks Cal's last run in the Pac-12, as the Bears – who finished second in the conference last season with a 7-3 record – will compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) beginning next year
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 Ducks

Oregon won its last match – 4-3 over Washington State on Sunday – to snap a three-match losing streak that included a 4-2 loss to then-No. 28 Washington on Friday
Perhaps the Ducks' most impressive win of the season was a 4-3 victory at No. 60 Iowa on Feb. 23
Oregon is 4-4 on the road
Junior Sophie Luescher was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week in February after going unbeaten in singles and doubles in Oregon's wins over Eastern Washington and Saint Mary's
Courtney Nagle is in her sixth season as Oregon's head coach

Scouting the Wave

Pepperdine plays at No. 5 Stanford on Friday
The Waves have won three straight since a March 2, 4-2 loss to No. 2 Michigan
Those three wins include the 6-1 win over Cal, a 4-0 shutout of No. 9 USC and a 7-0 rout at San Francisco
Five Waves are ranked in singles in No. 8 Savannah Broadus, No. 10 Lisa Zaar, No. 52 Janice Tjen, No. 90 Anna Campana and No. 95 Nikki Redelijk
The duo of Tjen and Broadus is ranked No. 2 in doubles
Per Nilsson is in his 10th year as head coach of Pepperdine

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' recent 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 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, lifting her record on the top court to 3-1 and her overall record to 14-6. 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 last week, 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. Ivanov is 15-6 in doubles.

Next Time
Cal travels to the Evergreen State for conference matches against No. 25 Washington on April 12 and Washington State on April 13.

Stay Posted
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