CARY, N.C. – The 10th-ranked and fourth-seeded California men's tennis team saw a familiar opponent in its first appearance in the ACC Championship, as sixth-ranked and fifth-seeded Virginia stood between the Golden Bears and a berth in the conference tournament semifinals. In the teams' first meeting of the year, Cal defeated the Cavaliers 4-3 in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the regular season. But this time the Bears fell 4-2 in Cary Tennis Park.
 
Cal suffered just its fourth loss of the season and now stands 18-4. Virginia is 19-6.
 
The Bears trailed 1-0 after doubles, with the Cavaliers clinching the point when 30th-ranked Dylan Dietrich and Mans Dahlberg beat Cal's 34th-ranked Carl Emil Overbeck and Theo Dean 6-4 on court one.
 
Cal tied the match twice in singles – first at 1-1 after Derrick Chen bested Roy Horovitz 6-1, 6-3 and then at 2-2 when Theo Dean – ranked 55th – beat James Hopper 6-4, 6-3.
 
But a 6-4, 6-4 loss by Cal's 74th-ranked Alex Chang to 26th-ranked Dietrich left the Bears down 3-2. The match ended when Cal freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa fell to Dahlberg 7-5, 6-4.
 
"They came out more ready than last time against us," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "They did their homework and you could tell. They were very energized in doubles. Their crowd was pumped and they took it to us from the start. We struggled to play our level. Obviously we beat them before and they're beatable, but you have to play well. After doubles they had the momentum on their side from there on.
 
"We had some singles matches go our way and there was a war on a couple of courts. But in the end we dug ourselves too deep of a hole. Against a good team like that it's not easy to come back. We fought to the end. We didn't play our best tennis today, but such is sports. We have to figure out how to play better under pressure, how we can hit our spots, how we can believe more and do things better. We'll spend a couple weeks to regroup, hit the practice courts, hit the gym and the carousel continues. And then it's on to the NCAAs."
 
Cal finds out its next opponent during the NCAA Championship selection show April 28.
 
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