Five members of the California women's tennis team begin the 2024-25 season in the ITA All-American Championships, with seniors Jessica Alsola, Katja Wiersholm and Lan Mi, junior Berta Passola Folch and sophomore Mao Mushika heading to the annual tournament in Cary, North Carolina. The All-American serves as one of the qualifying tournaments for the NCAA individual championships, which now take place in the fall after traditionally being held after the conclusion of the NCAA team championship in May. Baylor hosts the NCAA singles and doubles championships from Nov. 19-24 in Waco, Texas.
 
Baylor also hosts the NCAA team championship from May 15-18 in Waco.
 
The ITA Women's All-American Championships will have a draw size of the following – singles: pre-qualifying (128), qualifying (64), main draw (64); and doubles: pre-qualifying (32), qualifying (32), main draw (32). From this, 10 singles players will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship (eight main draw quarterfinalists & two feed-in consolation finalists). Meanwhile, four doubles teams will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship through the ITA All-American Championships (four main draw semifinalists).
 
Alsola and Wiersholm are in the singles main draw, while Mi, Mushika and Passola Folch are in the singles qualifying draw. In doubles, the pair of Alsola and Mushika are in the main draw, while Wiersholm and Passola Folch will start out in qualifying.
 
Here are more tournament details:
 
ITA All-American Championships
When: Sept. 21-29
Where: Cary Tennis Park, Cary, N.C.
Watch: Live Streaming – Cracked Racquets; Live Streaming – PlaySight
Live Scores: iOnCourt
Draws
ITA Tournament Page
 
While pre-qualifying action is slated for this weekend, the Bears don't start playing until the qualifying draws take place on Monday and Tuesday, with both main draws commencing Wednesday.
 
Poll Position
Five Bears are ranked in the first ITA singles poll of 2024-25 – No. 30 Jessica Alsola, No. 33 Katja Wiersholm, No. 80 Lan Mi, No. 106 Berta Passola Folch and No. 107 Mao Mushika. Three Cal pairs are ranked in doubles – No. 16 Alsola and Mushika, No. 25 Passola Folch and Wiersholm, and No. 79 Mi and freshman Naomi Xu.
 
2023-24 In Review
Cal completed a stellar season with a 20-7 record after reaching the NCAA Super Regional Round of the NCAA Championship. Earlier in the tournament, the 10th-ranked Bears hosted an NCAA regional at the Hellman Tennis Complex. In her final matches in Berkeley, Valentina Ivanov clinched a 4-0 first-round win over Sacramento State and a 4-0 second-round victory over Auburn, against which then-Cal junior Lan Mi won her 40th singles match of the season. The Bears traveled to play at seventh-ranked Georgia in the super regional, and both Jessica Alsola and Berta Passola Folch won in singles. But the Bulldogs prevailed 4-2 to end the team portion of the season for Cal.
 
Prior to NCAAs, the Bears – who posted an 8-2 conference record in their final season in the Pac-12 – beat Arizona State 5-0 and UCLA 4-2 in the conference tournament to reach the Pac-12 final, in which Cal fell to Stanford 4-0.
 
Three Bears – Ivanov, Hannah Viller Moeller and Katja Wiersholm – competed in the NCAA Singles Championship, while Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika played in the NCAA Doubles Championship, with the Bears exiting in the first round.
 
Highlights of the first half of the season included Viller Moeller reaching the singles quarterfinals of the ITA National Fall Championships in November, Alsola finishing as the runner-up of the consolation singles draw at fall nationals and the pair of Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika reaching the doubles round of 16 in San Diego. At the ITA Northwest Regional Championships earlier in the fall, Viller Moeller captured the singles crown and partnered with Mushika to win the doubles title.
 
Last Time At ITA All-Americans
Jessica Alsola won three times in singles qualifying to advance to the singles main draw and reach the quarterfinals of the 2023 ITA All-American Championships in Cary. In qualifying, the Cal star – then ranked 47th – defeated Arizona State's Marianna Argyrokastriti 7-6(5), 6-1, Texas A&M's 56th-ranked Mia Kupres 6-4, 6-3 and USC's 38th-ranked Eryn Cayetano 6-0, 6-4. In the main draw, Alsola bested Michigan's 80th-ranked Lily Jones 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 in the first round and surged past Stanford's 14th-ranked Angelica Blake 6-2, 6-2 in the round of 16. Alsola pushed her quarterfinal opponent – South Carolina's 25th-ranked Sarah Hamner – to three sets before falling 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
 
Next Time
Cal hosts the Cal Fall Invitational from Sept. 27-29, with Bears not competing at All-Americans playing for singles and doubles titles in their annual event at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts.
 
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