Riding an 11-match winning streak, the ninth-ranked California men's tennis team (18-2, 10-2 ACC) closes the regular season in the Big Slam against No. 8 Stanford on the Farm.
 
Vs. No. 8 Stanford (18-5, 9-3 ACC)
When: Saturday, April 12, 12:30 p.m. PT
Where: Arrillaga Tennis Center-Taube Pavilion, Stanford, California
Live Stream: PlaySight
Live Scores: StatBroadcast
 
Poll Position
No. 9 Cal is one of 14 ACC teams appearing in this week's ITA national team poll, including No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 5 NC State, No. 6 Virginia, No. 8 Stanford, No 19 Florida State, No. 20 Duke, No. 24 Clemson, No. 35 Miami, No. 45 Georgia Tech, No. 48 North Carolina, No. 60 Notre Dame, No. 66 SMU and No. 68 Virginia Tech.
 
In the ITA singles poll, Carl Emil Overbeck is ranked 13th (25-9), Theo Dean (28-10) is 47th and Alex Chang (20-10) is 71st. Overbeck and Dean (16-6) are ranked 29th in doubles.
 
Last Time: Cal Beats Duke, UNC To Close Home Slate
Cal defeated Duke last Friday and North Carolina on Sunday in its last two home matches of the regular season, with the Bears also celebrating the careers of Alex Chang, Derrick Chen, Theo Dean, Carl Emil Overbeck and Mikey Wright during Senior Day before the UNC match.
 
Against the Blue Devils, Cal got singles wins from Alex Chang, Theo Dean and Derrick Chen to take a 3-1 lead. But Duke then tied the match 3-3 to leave Cal's Timofey Stepanov to decide matters. The sophomore did so when he bested Connor Krug 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-4 to hand the Bears a 4-3 victory under the lights at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
After feting their four seniors and Dean, a graduate student, and honoring the career and life of late alumnus Jim McManus, the Bears shut out UNC 4-0 in front of hundreds of adoring fans at Hellman. Berkeley natives Chang and Wright clinched the doubles point, and then Overbeck, Chen and finally Stepanov won in singles to wrap up Cal's regular-season home finale. Stepanov clinched his third straight Cal victory when he beat Diego Jarry 6-1, 6-2.
 
Munk Mesa Named ACC Freshman of the Week
Bernardo Munk Mesa earned Cal's first ACC weekly men's tennis honor when he was named the ACC Freshman of the Week after clinching wins at No. 6 Virginia and then-No. 63 Virginia Tech in March.
 
On March 21 against the Cavaliers with the match tied 3-3, Munk Mesa won in a clutch three-set performance over Mans Dahlberg 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) to hand the Bears a 4-3 victory. On March 23 against the Hokies, the Spaniard prevailed in another tight match over Victor Kimpel 7-6(4), 7-6(7) to secure an eventual 7-0 win for Cal and improve his singles record to 12-9. Munk Mesa added a win at ODU to improve to 13-9.
 
Scouting the Bears

• With a 10-2 ACC record, Cal is in third place in the conference standings, behind first place Wake Forest and second place NC State and ahead of fourth place Stanford
• Sophomore Timofey Stepanov leads Cal with five clinching wins, including in each of the last three matches
• 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 the Cardinal

• Stanford has won five straight matches, including a pair of 4-0 wins over North Carolina last Friday and Duke last Sunday at home
• Three Cardinal players are ranked in singles: No. 12 Samir Banerjee, No. 75 Henry Von Der Schulenburg and No. 86 Max Basing
• Three Stanford duos are ranked in doubles: No. 50 Banerjee and Alex Razeghi, No. 84 Banerjee and Nico Godsick, and No. 86 Banerjee and Von Der Schulenburg
• Paul Goldstein is in his 11th season as the Taube Family Director of Men's Tennis at Stanford

Next Time
Cal competes in the ACC Championship tournament from Tuesday-Sunday, April 15-20, in Cary, North Carolina.
 
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