STANFORD – Entering Saturday's regular-season finale on an 11-match winning streak, the ninth-ranked California men's tennis team began the Big Slam against eighth-ranked Stanford by capturing the doubles point and a 1-0 lead. But after a tough battle in singles, the Golden Bears wound up leaving the Farm with a 4-2 loss.
 
Cal ended the regular season with an 18-3 record and a 10-3 ACC mark. The Cardinal (19-5) is likewise 10-3 in the conference and is tied with the Bears for third place in the ACC standings. With Saturday's result, Cal earned the No. 4 seed in the upcoming ACC Championship tournament.
 
The Bears' 29th-ranked Theo Dean and Carl Emil Overbeck kicked off the match with a 6-2 victory over Kyle Kang and Henry von der Schulenburg at court-one doubles. Cal clinched the doubles point when Alex Chang and Derrick Chen prevailed 6-4 over Nico Godsick and Hudson Rivera on court two.
 
Two losses to start singles left Cal trailing 2-1. A win by Cal's 47th-ranked Dean over Kang 6-2, 6-4 on court three tied the match 2-2.
 
Another loss left Cal behind 3-2, and the Big Slam ended when sophomore Timofey Stepanov fell to Stanford's 75th-ranked von der Schulenburg 7-5, 6-1 on court four.
 
"I was very pleased with the way we played doubles, we had a lot of energy on court two and won on court one right away," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "We put a lot of pressure on Stanford, and you could see over time we were forcing more errors from them. Guys did a great job of getting breaks and holding serve. It was one of the cleaner doubles we played all year.
 
"Look, obviously we didn't compete as well as we normally do in singles. My hope in the future is that we will be able to continue to take advantage of the doubles momentum. For some reason the pressure got to us a little bit. We were fighting ourselves more than the opponent, I felt. A couple spots we played really well. It was still a close match. Theo had a nice win. Alex Chang looked good and could have won that match. Timo had a close first set. You've got to take advantage of your chances. We were not able to play our best today. Stanford is obviously a good opponent and is very talented. But you've got to push them a little bit more physically and mentally than we did today.
 
"This is only our third loss of the season and this is as good of a season as I've ever had. We'll use this match to regroup. It's onto ACCs and let's see what we do there. Now we know what we have to work on."
 
With the Bears finishing in the top four spots in the conference standings, they earned a double bye into the quarterfinal round of next week's ACC Championship in Cary, North Carolina. While the first round is scheduled for Wednesday and the second round is slated for Thursday, Cal's first match takes place Friday against the winner of the second-round match between fifth-seeded Virginia and the winner of the first-round match between 12th-seeded Virginia Tech and 13th-seeded SMU.
 
No. 8 Stanford 4, No. 9 California 2
April 12, 2025, in Stanford, Calif.
Arrillaga Tennis Center-Taube Pavilion
 
DOUBLES
1. No. 29 Theo Dean/Carl Emil Overbeck (CAL) d. Kyle Kang/Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN), 6-2
2. Alex Chang/Derrick Chen (CAL) d. Nico Godsick/Hudson Rivera (STAN), 6-4
3. No. 50 Samir Banerjee/Alex Razeghi (STAN) led Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski/Mikey Wright (CAL), 6-5 Unfinished

Order of Finish: 1, 2
 
SINGLES
1. No. 12 Samir Banerjee (STAN) d. No. 13 Carl Emil Overbeck (CAL), 6-0, 6-4
2. No. 71 Alex Chang (CAL) led No. 86 Max Basing (STAN), 6-4, 4-5 Unfinished
3. No. 47 Theo Dean (CAL) d. Kyle Kang (STAN), 6-2, 6-4
4. No. 75 Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN) d. Timofey Stepanov (CAL), 7-5, 6-1
5. Nico Godsick (STAN) d. Derrick Chen (CAL), 6-2, 6-2
6. Alex Razeghi (STAN) d. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski (CAL), 7-5, 6-3

Order of Finish: 1, 5, 3, 6, 4
 
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