The fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked California men's tennis team (18-3) starts play in its first ACC Championship when it takes on fifth-seeded and sixth-ranked Virginia on Friday at 12:30 p.m. PT in the conference tournament quarterfinals. As the fourth seed, Cal earned byes in the first and second rounds of the conference tournament.
 
This marks the second match between the Golden Bears and the Cavaliers this season. In the first meeting during the regular season, then-No. 14 Cal defeated No. 6 Virginia 4-1 on March 21, with Bernardo Munk Mesa clinching the win in Charlottesville, Virginia.
 
Vs. No. 6 Virginia (18-6)
When: Friday, April 18, 12:30 p.m. PT
Where: Cary Tennis Park, Cary, N.C.
Live Stream
Live Scores
 
Poll Position
Fifteen teams dot the ITA team poll this week, including No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 5 NC State, No. 6 Virginia, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 Cal, No. 17 Florida State, No. 19 Duke, No. 22 Clemson, No. 37 Miami, No. 45 Georgia Tech, No. 52 North Carolina, No. 59 Louisville, No. 64 SMU, No. 65 Notre Dame and No. 69 Virginia Tech.
 
The same three Bears ranked in singles in recent weeks are back in the poll in No. 16 Carl Emil Overbeck (25-10), No. 55 Theo Dean (29-10) and No. 74 Alex Chang (20-10). In doubles, Dean and Overbeck and Dean (17-6) are ranked 34th.
 
Last Time: Bears Fall in Big Slam
Entering the April 12 regular-season finale on an 11-match winning streak, then-No. 9 Cal 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 Bears wound up leaving the Farm with a 4-2 loss.
 
The Bears' 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. The Bears also got a singles win from Dean, who bested Kang 6-2, 6-4.
 
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 during the regular season.
 
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

• Timofey Stepanov leads Cal with five clinching wins, with the sophomore clinching Cal's last three victories against SMU (4-2), Duke (4-3) and North Carolina (4-0)
• 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 Cavaliers

• Virginia has won seven straight matches including Thursday's ACC second-round match – a 4-2 victory over SMU
• The Cavaliers had to rally to beat the Mustangs, who won the doubles point
• James Hopper clinched the win for the Cavaliers with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 result over SMU's Louis Cloud
• Two Cavaliers are ranked in singles in No. 6 Rafael Jodar and No. 26 Dylan Dietrich
• Three Virginia pairs are ranked in doubles in No. 23 Hopper and Keegan Rice, No. 30 Dietrich and Mans Dahlberg, and No. 85 Hopper and Jodar
• Andres Pedroso is in his eighth year as the director of tennis and head men's tennis coach at Virginia

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