The 14th-ranked California men's tennis team concludes its last road trip of the regular season this week with matches at No. 59 Old Dominion, Boston College and No. 56 SMU. Cal (13-2, 6-2 ACC) brings a six-match winning streak into Norfolk, Virginia, to face the Monarchs in a nonconference match before returning to its ACC schedule against the Eagles and Mustangs.
 
The contest at ODU will mark the Golden Bears' third straight match in the state of Virginia, including their impressive wins at No. 6 Virginia last Friday and No. 63 Virginia Tech on Sunday.
 
At No. 59 Old Dominion (10-7)
When: Wednesday, March 26, 10 a.m. PT
Where: Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center, Norfolk, Va.
Live Stream: Track.Tennis
Live Scores: iOnCourt
 
At Boston College (3-9, 0-8 ACC)
When: Friday, March 28, Noon PT
Where: Weymouth Club, Weymouth, Mass.
Live Scores: StatBroadcast

At No. 56 SMU (12-13, 1-7 ACC)
When: Sunday, March 30, 10 a.m. PT
Where: Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex, Dallas, Texas
Live Stream: PlaySight
Live Scores: SMU Website

Poll Position
Ranked a season-best 14th in last week's ITA poll, Cal is one of 14 ACC teams appearing in the poll, including No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 5 NC State, No. 6 Virginia, No. 8 Stanford, No. 13 Duke, No. 16 Clemson, No. 34 Miami, No. 37 Florida State, No. 38 Georgia Tech, No. 56 SMU, No. 58 North Carolina, No. 61 Notre Dame and No. 63 Virginia Tech. The ITA will release its new team rankings Tuesday.
 
In the individual ITA polls, senior Cal Emil Overbeck (22-7 record) is ranked ninth, graduate student Theo Dean (25-10) is 37th and senior Alex Chang (18-10) is 68th. The tandem of Dean and Overbeck (15-6) is ranked 24th in doubles.
 
Last Time: Streaking Bears Win 2 In Virginia
Fourteenth-ranked Cal defeated No. 6 Virginia 4-3 and No. 63 Virginia Tech 7-0 in road wins last week. Freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa clinched both victories.
 
Last Friday against the Cavaliers, Cal's senior pair of Alex Chang and Carl Emil Overbeck defeated 28th-ranked James Hopper and Keegan Rice 7-5 to clinch the doubles point. Munk Mesa later beat Mans Dahlberg 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) to complete the Bears' win.
 
On Sunday at Virginia Tech, Mikey Wright and Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski bested Victor Kimpel and Eyal Shumilov 6-4 to secure the doubles point for Cal. The Bears swept through singles and got the clincher from Munk Mesa's 7-6(4), 7-6(7) win over Kimpel.
 
Scouting the Bears

• With a 6-2 conference record, Cal is tied with Clemson for fourth place in the standings of the 16-team ACC
• Senior Derrick Chen and freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa lead Cal in clinching wins with three each
• Chen secured Cal victories against the dual-match opener at Saint Mary's, a home win over Miami and a home win against Notre Dame
• Munk Mesa clinched against UC Davis at home and in the recent wins over No. 6 Virginia and No. 64 Virginia Tech on the road
• Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski (Texas Tech, Florida State), Carl Emil Overbeck (Saint Mary's, UCLA) and Timofey Stepanov (UCSB, USC) have each clinched two Cal victories; Theo Dean clinched the 5-2 win over Louisville
• Cal qualified the most entrants in the country – men or women – at the NCAA individual championships in November with six – four (Overbeck, Chang, Dean and Stepanov) in singles and two (Dean/Overbeck and Chang/Mikey Wright) in doubles
• Along with beating UCLA in Los Angeles 4-2, Cal defeated USC on the road as well this season to mark the first time in modern history that the program swept the two schools in LA
• Kris Kwinta is in his fourth season as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis
• Kwinta, a UCLA alumnus ('08), clinched the Bruins' 4-3, NCAA championship win over Baylor in 2005
• Andrea Caligiana (Wichita State '20) is in his first season as a Cal assistant coach
• Former Santa Clara star Vasileios Iliopoulos is in his second season as a Cal assistant coach

Scouting Old Dominion

• The Monarchs have won three straight matches, including 4-1 over Georgia Southern and 4-0 against Coastal Carolina last weekend
• Connor van Schalkwyk is ranked 115th in singles
• Brothers Connor and Codie van Schalkwyk are ranked 71st in doubles
• Dominik Mueller is in his ninth season as head coach of ODU

Scouting Boston College

• Boston College is tied with Louisville for last place in the ACC with identical 0-8 conference records
• The Eagles host Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday
• Boston College has suffered five consecutive losses, including 4-0 at North Carolina last Friday and 6-1 at Duke on Sunday
• Scott Wilkins is in his 22nd season as the head coach at Boston College

Scouting SMU

• With its 1-7 ACC record, SMU is tied for 12th place in the conference with Virginia Tech
• The Mustangs host Stanford on Friday
• SMU has lost three straight, including 4-0 at Duke and 4-0 at North Carolina last week
• Trevor Svajda is ranked 86th in singles
• In doubles, Svajda and Louis Cloud are ranked 45th and the pair of Georgi Georgiev and Ofek Shimanov is ranked 76th
• Grant Chen is in his seventh season as the head coach of the Mustangs

Next Time
Cal hosts Duke on April 4 and North Carolina on April 6 – when the Bears will celebrate Senior Day and McManus Legends Day – to wrap up its regular-season home schedule at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
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