The 15th-ranked California women's tennis team (5-2) continues nonconference action this weekend at No. 40 UC Santa Barbara and — in the two teams' second meeting in a week — No. 6 Pepperdine.
 
At No. 40 UC Santa Barbara (7-7)
Noon PT, Saturday, March 14
Arnhold Tennis Center, Santa Barbara, Calif.
 
At No. 6 Pepperdine (10-3)
Noon PT, Sunday, March 15
Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, Malibu, Calif.
Live Stream/Scores PlaySight
 
Last Time: Bears Fall To Waves
Then-No. 10 Cal got off to a great start in its nonconference match against Pepperdine on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex, capturing the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. However, the Golden Bears would go on to drop four of five singles matches – with senior Berta Passola Folch posting the lone win – to fall to the Waves 4-2.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked No. 15 by the ITA and No. 18 in the Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR) poll this week. Four Bears are featured in the most recent ITA singles rankings: No. 11 Berta Passola Folch (23-5), No. 55 Johanne Svendsen (3-0), No. 57 Mao Mushika (13-7) and No. 92 Naomi Xu (6-6). Two Cal duos are ranked in the ITA doubles poll: No. 66 Mushika and Passola Folch (2-1) and No. 76 Mushika and Svendsen (2-1).
 
Berta Passola Folch Named ACC Player Of The Week
Berta Passola Folch was named the ACC Player of the Week on Feb. 24 for leading the Golden Bears to conference-opening wins over Clemson and Georgia Tech in Berkeley. That marked Passola Folch's first ACC weekly honor and the first for the Bears this season. The Spaniard won twice in singles and doubles as the then-No. 12 Bears defeated the No. 21 Tigers 4-1 on Feb. 20 and No. 59 Yellow Jackets 4-0 on Feb. 21.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Berta Passola Folch capped an impressive fall season when the Cal senior reached the final of the NCAA Singles Championship in the first national individual tournament of her career and earned her first All-America honor along the way.
• The Spaniard qualified for NCAAs by advancing to the semifinals at the ITA West Sectional Championships in Seattle.
• Passola Folch has won 15 of her last 17 singles matches.
• Danish freshman Johanne Svendsen ­­­­— who made her Cal debut in January — boasts career-best WTA rankings of 361 in singles and 516 in doubles; she is currently ranked 609th in singles and 870st in doubles.
• Svendsen has extensive experience playing for her country in the Billie Jean King Cup, competing in tournaments between 2022 and 2025.
• The first-year Bear has lost just once in her collegiate career so far, with records of 3-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles.
• Sophomore Greta Greco Lucchina also qualified for NCAA singles at ITA West Sectionals, winning a playoff match in Seattle to join Passola Folch in Orlando.
• Overall, four Bears competed in NCAA singles in November, including Mao Mushika, a junior who advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Conference Masters Championships to book her spot at nationals.
• Earlier in the fall, Mushika partnered with Greco Lucchina to win the doubles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Berkeley to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.
• The Japan native garnered doubles All-America honors last year when she paired with former Bear Jessica Alsola to earn the No. 4 ranking in the last ITA poll of the 2024-25 season.
• Also during this season's ITA regionals, sophomore Naomi Xu made a run to the singles final to claim her spot at NCAAs.
• The Bears are led by interim head coach Kris Kwinta, who is also in his fifth season at Cal as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis.
• Former Cal All-Americans Stephanie Kusano Wallace and Jean Lozano are assistant coaches for the Bears.

 
Scouting the Gauchos

• Besides its No. 40 ITA ranking, UCSB is ranked No. 53 by UTR.
• The Gauchos won their last two matches – 6-1 at No. 71 LMU on March 4 and 6-1 against No. 32 San Diego at home last Sunday.
• UCSB hosts Memphis on Friday before taking on Cal on Saturday.
• Shacf Liebermann was named the Big West Player of the Week for the third time this season after clinching the doubles point against LMU and winning in singles vs. the Lions and Toreros.
• Simon Thibodeau is in his 14th year as head coach of UC Santa Barbara.

 
Scouting the Waves

• Along with its No. 6 ITA ranking, Pepperdine is ranked 13th by UTR.
• The Waves defeated No. 2 Ohio State 4-0 on Wednesday in Malibu.
• Three Waves are ranked in singles: No. 10 Anatasiia Grechkina, No. 43 Ziva Falkner and No. 122 Sonja Zhiyenbayeva.
• Grechkina clinched Pepperdine's victory over Cal with a win at Court-3 singles.
• The doubles pair of Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva is ranked 26th.
• Tassilo Schmid is in his first year as head coach of Pepperdine; he served as the team's interim head coach last season.

 
Next Time
Cal returns to its ACC schedule to play more road contests – at No. 60 Boston College on March 20 and at No. 61 Syracuse on March 22.
 
 
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