Mao Mushika and Jessica Alsola became the first California women's tennis players to earn All-ACC honors Thursday, when the conference named Mushika to the singles second team and tabbed Alsola for the singles third team. The Golden Bear duo was also named to the All-ACC Second Team in doubles.
 
Both Bears are significant contributors to another stellar season for 21st-ranked Cal, which awaits the NCAA Championship Selection Show on Monday to find out its postseason plans. Both Bears are ranked in this week's ITA singles poll, with Mushika (18-12 record) at No. 31 and Alsola (18-11) at No. 56. The talented Bears also combine to form the nation's fourth-ranked doubles team (13-4).
 
Mushika has had an outstanding sophomore season that included competing in the NCAA Singles Championship and, with Alsola, in the NCAA Doubles Championship in November. The native of Ichinomiya, Japan, was the first Bear named an ACC Player of the Week in January and then combined with Alsola to earn the ACC Doubles Team of the Week laurel in March. Mushika played most of the dual-match season at No. 1 singles, posting an 8-6 record on the top court. One of her most notable wins came in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she defeated Sara Ziodato 7-6(4), 6-3 to clinch Cal's win over then-No. 2 Virginia. Among the numerous ranked singles opponents Mushika beat this year are No. 16 Amelia Honer (UC Santa Barbara), No. 17 Savannah Broadus (Pepperdine), No. 22 Ziodato (Virginia), No. 55 Angella Okutoyi (Auburn) and No. 66 Elise Wagle (UCLA).
 
Alsola, a senior, posted a 13-5 dual-match record in singles. She earned Cal's second ACC Player of the Week award in March after besting Virginia Tech's 30th-ranked Ozlem Uslu 6-1, 6-4 in the Bears' 6-1 rout of the Hokies and pairing with Mushika to clinch the doubles point at Virginia Tech and at Virginia, which also led to the two Bears collecting their ACC Doubles Team of the Week honor. Along with Uzlu, among the ranked opponents who Alsola bested were No. 21 Irina Balus (Duke), No. 23 Thea Rabman (North Carolina), No. 67 Emma Staker (Oklahoma), No. 70 Anastiasiia Grechkina (Pepperdine) and No. 100 Raquel Gonzalez (Miami). Alsola's victory over Grechkina – a 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2 result – clinched the Bears' 5-2 win over the then-No. 20 Waves.
 
Mushika and Alsola qualified for November's NCAA Doubles Championship early in the season on Sept. 27, when they beat Vanderbilt's Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinal round of the ITA All-American Championships. Along with the Commodore duo – which is currently ranked 10th – Mushika and Alsola defeated some of the country's other top doubles teams including Virginia's top-ranked Melodie Collard and Elaine Chervinsky, NC State's sixth-ranked Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, Duke's 18th-ranked Balus and Elizebeth Coleman, Stanford's 23rd-ranked Connie Ma and Valerie Glozman, and SMU's 53rd-ranked Sophie Llewellyn and Ellie Pittman.
 
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