The 26th-ranked California women's tennis team heads to the East Coast to battle No. 2 Virginia on Friday and No. 54 Virginia Tech on Sunday in the Old Dominion State. Cal brings a record of 7-4 into the match with the Cavaliers. With a 4-0 ACC record, the Golden Bears are tied for the conference lead with Duke, North Carolina and NC State.
 
Virginia sits in fifth place in the ACC with a 4-1 record and Virginia Tech is alone in last place at 0-5.
 
Both of Cal's matches in Virginia will be featured on the Cracked Racquets CrossCourt Cast on ACCNX.
 
At No. 2 Virginia (12-3, 4-1 ACC)
Friday, 1 p.m. PT
Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar's Head Resort, Charlottesville, Va.
Watch CrossCourt Cast: ACCNX
Live Stream: Virginia Website
Live Scores: StatBroadcast
 
Vs. No. 54 Virginia Tech (11-6, 0-5 ACC)
Sunday, 8 a.m. PT
Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center, Blacksburg, Va.
Watch CrossCourt Cast: ACCNX
Live Scores: Virginia Tech Website
 
Last Week: Cal Tops Stanford, Routs SMU
Freshman and Bay Area native Sophie Hernandez earned her first clinching win of her young career at Cal when she beat Morgan Shaffer 6-4, 7-5 to secure the Bears' 4-3 win over then-No. 27 Stanford in the Big Slam last Saturday on the Farm. The Los Gatos product became the sixth different Bear to clinch a Cal win this season. Berta Passola Folch and Naomi Xu secured the doubles point when they bested Caroline Driscoll and Valencia Xu 6-2 on court two.
 
Against No. 60 SMU on Sunday in Berkeley, senior Lan Mi bested Ellie Pittman 6-2, 6-3 on court three to secure the overall win. Earlier, Mi paired with Greta Greco Lucchina to clinch the doubles point with a 6-3 triumph over 64th-ranked Kayla Schefke and Arianna Stavropoulos on court three.

Poll Position
Playing in arguably the strongest conference in the nation, Cal is one of 14 ACC teams in the ITA team poll this week, including No. 2 Virginia, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 7 Duke, No. 10 NC State, No. 28 Stanford, No. 29 Georgia Tech, No. 30 Notre Dame, No. 31 Clemson, No. 37 Wake Forest, No. 50 Miami, No. 54 Virginia Tech, No. 62 SMU and No. 67 Boston College.
 
Four Bears are ranked in singles – No. 37 Mao Mushika, No. 45 Katja Wiersholm, No. 90 Lan Mi and No. 115 Jessica Alsola. In doubles, Alsola and Mushika are ranked 12th, while Mushika and Wiersholm are ranked 17th.
 
Scouting Cal

• Singles All-American Katja Wiersholm has a record of 8-5
• Wiersholm was one of four Bears – including Mao Mushika, Lan Mi and Jessica Alsola – who competed in the NCAA individual championships at Baylor in the fall
• Wiersholm advanced to the NCAA singles round of 16 to earn All-America singles honors in Waco, Texas
• Alsola, who paired with Mushika at NCAA doubles in Waco, has a 7-3 doubles record with Mushika and is 12-8 in singles
• Mushika, a sophomore who reached the second round of NCAA singles, has 15-9 singles mark
• Mushika was the first Bear to earn ACC honors when she was named the ACC Player of the Week on Jan. 14 after posting records of 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles in the Cal Winter Invitational
• Mi, a senior who also advanced to the NCAA singles second round, has an 18-6 singles record
• One of Mi's wins – a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Dania Deafi – clinched Cal's win over Grand Canyon in the opening match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 24 in Berkeley
• Berta Passola Folch, a junior, is 15-8 in singles
• Sophomore Tiziana-Marie Schomburg is 10-5 in singles
• Freshman Greta Greco Lucchina, who joined the Bears in early January, is 10-3 in singles
• Greco Lucchina beat Tyra Richardson 6-4, 6-3 to record one of those 10 wins and clinch Cal's 6-1 rout of UC Santa Barbara on March 1 in Berkeley
• Freshman Naomi Xu is 10-8 in singles, while first-year Bear Sophie Hernandez is 12-5 in singles
• Amanda Augustus – a Cal Athletics Hall of Famer, two-time NCAA doubles champion, 2021 Pac-12 Coach of the Year and five-time ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year – is in her 18th year as head coach at her alma mater

• Assistant coach and former Cal women's tennis player Stephanie Kusano Wallace is in her first year on the Cal staff

Scouting Virginia

• Virginia split its last two matches – winning 4-1 at Wake Forest and losing 4-2 at NC State
• Four Cavaliers are ranked in singles: No. 18 Elaine Chervinsky, No. 24 Sara Ziodato, No. 28 Annabelle Xu and No. 114 Isabelle Lacy
• Annabelle Xu, a junior, is the sister of Cal freshman Naomi Xu
• Three Virginia doubles teams are ranked: No. 1 Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, No. 28 Annabelle Xu and Martina Genis Salas, and No. 40 Ziodato and Meggie Navarro
• Sara O'Leary is in her eighth season as the head coach at Virginia

Scouting Virginia Tech

• The Hokies host Stanford on Friday
• Virginia won its last two matches – 4-0 at Coastal Carolina and 4-1 at Radford
• Ozlem Uslu is ranked 30th in singles
• In doubles, the pair of Uslu and Charlotte Cartledge is ranked 83rd
• Terry Ann Zawacky-Holdren is in her 20th season as head coach of Virginia Tech

Next Time
Cal plays at Florida State on March 28 and at Miami on March 30
 
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on X (@CalWomensTennis), Instagram (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (/CalWomensTennis).