After a long road trip, the 10th-ranked California men's tennis team (16-2, 8-2 ACC) returns to Berkeley to host its final two regular-season home matches against No. 15 Duke on Friday and No. 47 North Carolina on Sunday at the Hellman Tennis Complex.

The Duke and North Carolina matches will be featured on the Cracked Racquets ACC CrossCourt Cast on ACCNX. 

Prior to Sunday's match, Cal will host Senior Day to celebrate the careers of seniors Alex Chang, Derrick Chen, Carl Emil Overbeck and Mikey Wright and that of graduate student Theo Dean. Sunday is also McManus Legends Day, when the Golden Bears will honor the memory of late alumnus Jim McManus and celebrate all their alumni. Fuddruckers will provide free hamburgers to fans attending the Cal-North Carolina match.
 
Vs. No. 15 Duke (15-5, 8-2 ACC)
When: Friday, April 4, 5:30 p.m. PT
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, California
Cracked Racquets ACC CrossCourt Cast: ACCNX / ESPN app
Live Stream: PlaySight
Live Scores: StatBroadcast
Attendance: Free
 
Vs. No. 47 North Carolina (12-7, 6-4 ACC)
When: Sunday, April 6, Noon PT
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, California
Cracked Racquets ACC CrossCourt Cast: ACCNX / ESPN app
Live Stream: PlaySight
Live Scores: StatBroadcast
Attendance: Free
 
Poll Position
No. 10 Cal is one of 13 ACC teams appearing in the ITA national rankings this week, including No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 4 NC State, No. 6 Virginia, No. 9 Stanford, No. 15 Duke, No 19 Florida State, No. 25 Clemson, No. 33 Miami, No. 46 Georgia Tech, No. 47 North Carolina, No. 55 Notre Dame and No. 64 SMU.
 
In the ITA singles poll, Carl Emil Overbeck is ranked 11th (24-8), Theo Dean (27-10) is 45th and Alex Chang (19-10) is 66th. Overbeck and Dean (15-6) are ranked 28th in doubles.
 
Last Time: Bears Win At ODU, BC, SMU
Cal completed its long road trip with matches at Old Dominion, Boston College and SMU.
 
In a March 26 nonconference contest against the Monarchs, the Bears dropped the doubles point, but Theo Dean defeated Connor van Schalkwyk 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in singles to clinch a 6-1 victory. On March 28 at BC, Cal won the doubles point, with Dean and Derrick Chen topping Caleb Saltz and Liam O'Leary 7-5 on court one. Chen later clinched the overall win with a 6-3, 6-3 result over Jake Vassel at court-four singles. On Sunday in Dallas, Cal trailed SMU 2-0 before rallying. Sophomore Timofey Stepanov defeated Georgi Georgiev 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at court-four singles to complete a 4-2 win over the Mustangs.
 
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. The two matches began the road trip that ended at SMU.
 
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 an 8-2 ACC record, Cal is tied with Duke for third place in the standings of the 16-team conference
• Senior Derrick Chen leads Cal with four clinching wins, while freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa and sophomore Timofey Stepanov have clinched three Cal victories apiece
• 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 Blue Devils

• Duke split its last two matches, beating Miami 4-3 last Sunday at home after losing to Florida State 4-3 on Friday also at home
• Three Blue Devils are ranked in singles in No. 47 Pedro Rodenas, No. 56 Cooper Williams and No. 114 Sam Landau
• Duke also has three ranked doubles teams: No. 16 Williams and Theo Winegar, No. 40 Rodenas and Winegar, and No. 58 Williams and Andreja Petrovic
• Ramsey Smith is in his 17th season as head coach at Duke

Scouting the Tar Heels

• UNC plays at Stanford on Friday
• North Carolina is in a four-way tie for sixth place in the ACC
• In their last two matches, the Tar Heels beat Miami 4-3 at home last Friday and lost to Florida State 4-0 at home on Sunday
• North Carolina has two ranked doubles pairs: No. 57 Patrick Schoen and Logan Zapp and No. 80 Vladislav Melnic and Chris Xu
• Sam Paul is in his 32nd season as the head coach at UNC

Next Time
Cal ends the regular season on the road in the Big Slam at Stanford on April 12.
 
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