BERKELEY – The California women's tennis team captured its third victory in three days and improved to 2-0 in the ACC when it defeated Syracuse 5-2 on a warm Saturday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Berta Passola Folch became the fifth different Golden Bear to clinch a win this season as Cal – which has won four straight dual matches – improved its overall record to 5-4.
 
The Orange is 8-5 (1-5 ACC).
 
As they did in a 7-0 win over Boston College on Saturday in their ACC opener, the Golden Bears captured the doubles point against Syracuse. Greta Greco Lucchina and Lan Mi won the first match of the day when they beat Anastasia Syseova and Constance Levivier 6-2 on court two. In a tightly contested match on court three, Cal's Tiziana-Marie Schomburg and Naomi Xu fell 6-4 to 74th-ranked Monika Wojcik and Serafima Shastova. A court-one win gave the Bears the point, as the 47th-ranked duo of Jessica Alsola and Mao Mushika bested 55th-ranked Miyuka Kimoto and Nelly Knezkova 6-4.
 
Syracuse tied the match 1-1 when Greco Lucchina retired after trailing 5-4 in the first set against Serafima Shastova at court-four singles.
 
But 40th-ranked Mao Mushika dominated 90th-ranked Kimoto 6-1, 6-0 to give the lead back to the Bears at 2-1. The Cal sophomore has been on a good run of late. Three of her last four singles wins have come against nationally ranked opponents, including Pepperdine's 13th-ranked Savannah Broadus, who lost to Mushika 6-3, 6-1 in Cal's 5-2 win over 20th-ranked Pepperdine on Thursday, and UC Santa Barbara's Amelia Honer, who was ranked 14th when Mushika beat her 6-4, 6-0 on March 1. The Bears beat the Gauchos 6-1 to start the current winning streak.
 
Mi, ranked 86th, next posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over Syracuse's Syseova on court three to make the score 3-1, and Passola Folch secured Cal's win with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Shiori Ito on court five that made the score 4-1. Passola Folch and Ito battled in a tight first set, but the Cal junior found her rhythm to control the second set.
 
"I found my game and just took it to her," Passola Folch said. "I'm happy about it."
 
Alsola bested Knezkova 6-2, 6-2 on court two to give the Bears a 5-1 lead. Cal freshman Naomi Xu fell to Monica Wojcik 6-4, 6-2 on court six to end the day.
 
"We've put in a lot of work to get to where we are now, and we had a good team effort to win three home matches three days in a row," Passola Folch added.
"The more we play consecutive matches like this, the better prepared we are for the postseason. We're happy as a team and just hope to keep the streak going next week."
 
"We're settling into a rhythm of matches," Cal head Coach Amanda Augustus said. "We had three days in a row of tennis, and it was important to stay consistent. That's what the NCAA Championship looks like – you need to be able to play three days in a row at the end.
 
"I'm pleased we won the doubles point again today and with how we transitioned into the singles," Augustus said. "We had a great crowd again supporting the team and had great conditions. We're just happy to stay undefeated in the ACC so far. I hope the fans will come out and support us again next week with two home matches played around a match down at Stanford."
 
Cal hosts San Diego in a nonconference competition Wednesday at the Hellman Tennis Complex, plays an ACC match on the Farm next Saturday and hosts SMU in another conference contest next Sunday.
 
California (5-4, 2-0 ACC) defeated No. 56 Syracuse (8-5, 1-5), 5-2
March 8, 2025, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
 
Doubles
1. No. 47 Jessica Alsola/Mao Mushika (Cal) def. No. 55 Miyuka Kimoto/Nelly Knezkova (Syracuse), 6-4*
2. Greta Greco Lucchina/Lan Mi (Cal) def. Anastasia Syseova/Constance Levivier (Syracuse), 6-2
3. No. 74 Serafima Shastova/Monika Wojcik (Syracuse) def. Tiziana-Marie Schomburg/Naomi Xu (Cal), 6-4
 
Order of Finish – 2, 3, 1*
*Clinched the doubles point for Cal
 
Singles
1. No. 40 Mao Mushika (Cal) def. No. 90 Miyuka Kimoto (Syracuse), 6-1, 6-0
2. Jessica Alsola (Cal) def. Nelly Knezkova (Syracuse), 6-2, 6-2
3. No. 86 Lan Mi (Cal) def. Anastasia Syseova (Syracuse), 6-2, 6-1
4. Serafima Shastova (Syracuse) def. No. 110 Greta Greco Lucchina (Cal), 5-4 ret.
5. Berta Passola Folch (Cal) def. Shiori Ito (Syracuse), 6-4, 6-0^
6. Monika Wojcik (Syracuse) def. Naomi Xu (Cal), 6-4, 6-2
 
Order of Finish – 4, 1, 3, 5^, 2, 6
^Clinched the overall win for Cal
 
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