BERKELEY– The 65th-ranked California men's tennis team improved to 8-7 this season thanks to a 4-0 Pac-12 Conference win over Utah on Saturday evening at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Alex Chang clinched the victory, as Cal also improved to 3-1 in the conference.
 
Utah is 3-14 (0-3 Pac-12).
 
The match began late but ended quickly, with Chang's court-three singles win wrapping up the match at one hour and 53 minutes. Slated for a 3:30 p.m. PT start, the match was pushed back to 5:15 p.m. due to the No. 10 Cal women's tennis team's long 4-3 victory over No. 3 Pepperdine at Hellman.
 
Cal claimed the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead over the Utes. First, the 45th-ranked pair of Chang and Mikey Wright defeated Geronimo Espin Busleiman and Bruno Krenn, 6-2, on court one, and then Lucas Magnaudet and Timofey Stepanov beat Jayson Blando and Michael Blando, 6-1, on court two to clinch the point.
 
In singles, Stepanov doubled Cal's lead when he bested Dylan Applegate, 6-1, 6-0, on court four, and then the 75th-ranked Ryder Jackson gave the Golden Bears a 3-0 advantage when he topped Krenn, 6-3, 6-0, on court two.
 
Chang soon ended the match with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jayson Blando to complete the 4-0 victory.
 
"It was fun to see the women win a tough match," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "And we came out ready for the most part. Maybe we were a little slow at the beginning of doubles, but then we just took off. I was glad to see Ryder back on the courts. He hadn't played in many matches and was a little rusty in his first four games. But then he won 11 straight games playing the right way, playing the right tennis, which was good to see. Alex and Timo delivered as they have all season long. There was a pretty good level of tennis from all the Bears. It was pretty cool. We're ready for tomorrow."
 
The Bears have a quick turnaround before their next matches at Hellman – on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT they play UC Santa Barbara in the first match of a double header and then they face Saint Mary's at 4:30 p.m.
 
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