The California women's tennis team hosts its annual Cal Fall Invitational from Friday through Sunday at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts. Players from six teams – Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Jose State, Santa Clara and Stanford – will vie with five Golden Bears for singles and doubles titles in the three-day event, while three other Bears continue competing at the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, North Carolina.
 
Each day will begin with doubles starting at 9 a.m. PT at Hellman, with matches slated for both Hellman and Channing later each day.
 
Junior Tiziana-Marie Schomburg, sophomore Sophie Hernandez, and newcomers Anya Murthy – a sophomore – and Millie Johanna Moerk, a freshman, will start their season in the Cal Fall Invitational. Sophomore Greta Greco Lucchina returns for the annual tournament after competing in pre-qualifying singles at the ITA All-American Championships.
 
Cal Fall Invitational
When: 9 a.m. PT, Friday-Sunday
Where: Hellman Tennis Complex, Channing Tennis Courts, Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: PlaySight
Draws & Results: ITA Site
Admission: Free
 
Amanda Augustus Announces Retirement, Kris Kwinta Named Interim Head Coach
Longtime head coach Amanda Augustus announced her retirement Tuesday after 18 years in charge of Cal women's tennis. Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis Kris Kwinta will serve as the interim head coach of the women's program while continuing to lead the men's program.
 
Bears Start Season At ITA All-Americans
Junior Mao Mushika and senior Berta Passola Folch are competing in the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships, with the Bears playing in Thursday's second round in Cary. Cilekova, a freshman, and Mushika also play in the consolation doubles draw Thursday.
 
In Wednesday's singles round of 64, the ninth-seeded and 17th-ranked Mushika defeated Tennessee's Saray Yli-Piipari 6-3, 6-2, while the 113th-ranked Passola Folch topped Notre Dame's Akari Mitsuno 6-4, 7-6(3).
 
Mushika faced her singles opponent again later in the day in the doubles round of 32. She and Cilekova fell to the Volunteers' Yli-Piipari and Vanesa Suarez 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 10-7 to end the day for the Bears.
 
On Thursday in the main draw singles round of 32, Mushika faces NC State's 88th-ranked Lavinia Tanasie at 6 a.m. PT and Passola Folch plays Wichita State's 73rd-ranked Xin Tong Wang at 8:30 a.m. PT. Cilekova and Mushika move into the doubles consolation draw and play Michigan's 50th-ranked Piper Charney and Emily Sartz-Lunde at 1 p.m. PT on Thursday.
 
Earlier at ITA All-Americans, Cilekova, Greta Greco Lucchina and sophomore Naomi Xu played in pre-qualifying singles. The three Bears did not reach qualifying singles, as Greco Lucchina fell in the first round, and Cilekova and Xu fell in the second round.
 
Last Time At The Cal Fall Invite
Cal closed out the 2024 Cal Fall Invite in style, capturing top-flight titles in singles and doubles on the last day of the event. Three of the program's youngest players won, with sophomore Tiziana-Marie Schomburg and freshman Naomi Xu taking the doubles title and freshman Sophie Hernandez winning the singles crown at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The top-seeded Cal duo defeated the second-seeded Iman Khan and Olivia Rook of Saint Mary's 8-5 in the morning final, while – in the last match of the three-day tournament – Hernandez prevailed 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 over Sacramento State's Madelyn Ferreros in the singles final.

Poll Position
Three Bears are ranked in the ITA preseason singles poll in No. 17 Mushika, No. 113 Berta Passola Folch and No. 125 Greta Greco Lucchina. Mushika and Cilekova sit at No. 13 in the preseason doubles rankings. To end last season, Mushika ranked 32nd in singles, while the doubles pair of Mushika and Jessica Alsola ranked fourth and the duo of Mushika and Katja Wiersholm ranked 44th.
 
2024-25 In Review
Cal reached the NCAA Super Regional for the second straight year, with the Bears shutting out Sacramento State and Washington in a pair of 4-0 wins in the first two rounds of the NCAA Championship in Seattle. Senior Lan Mi clinched both victories with wins at court-three singles. The Golden Bears ultimately lost at top-ranked Georgia 4-0 in the super regional to end their season with a 15-9 record that included a 9-3 conference mark in their first season in the ACC.
 
In their first appearance in the ACC Championship, the Bears topped Louisville 4-1 in the first round with Naomi Xu clinching the win. They faced a familiar opponent in the quarterfinals in Virginia. Cal defeated the Cavaliers 4-1 in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier in the season. But the Bears fell 4-0 in the rematch.
 
Among the highlights of the 2024-25 season were a 10-match winning streak that included an 8-0 start in the ACC, the aforementioned win at then-No. 2 Virginia, a 4-3 victory in the Big Slam at No. 27 Stanford, qualifying four Bears (Jessica Alsola, Lan Mi, Mao Mushika and Katja Wiersholm) for the NCAA individual championships, and Wiersholm earning singles All-America honors by reaching the NCAA round of 16.
 
By virtue of their final No. 4 ranking last season, Mushika and Alsola earned doubles All-America honors. The duo was also named to the All-ACC Second Team in doubles, while Mushika was named to the All-ACC Second Team in singles and Alsola was tabbed a singles All-ACC Third-Team honoree.
 
Next Time
The Bears host their second straight event in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, scheduled for Oct. 10-14 at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts. As with the ITA All-American Championships, the ITA's 13 regional tournaments are qualifying events for the NCAA Singles Championship and NCAA Doubles Championship in November.
 
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