The 10th-ranked California women's tennis team (5-1) takes a break from its ACC schedule when it hosts No. 16 Pepperdine on Sunday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The nonconference dual match completes the Golden Bears' current seven-match homestand.
 
Vs. No. 16 Pepperdine (6-3 as of March 6)
3 p.m. PT, Sunday, March 8
Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
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Admission Free
 
Sunday's match is part of a doubleheader at Hellman, where the Cal men's tennis team hosts Virginia Tech at 11 a.m. PT.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked No. 10 by the ITA and No. 9 in the Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR) poll this week. Four Bears are featured in the ITA singles rankings: No. 11 Berta Passola Folch (22-5), No. 55 Johanne Svendsen (3-0), No. 57 Mao Mushika (13-6) 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 14 of her last 16 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 3-1 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 Waves

• Pepperdine plays at No. 24 Stanford on Friday and at Santa Clara on Saturday before facing the Bears on Sunday.
• Including their matches against the Cardinal, Broncos and Bears, the Waves will play five matches in six days.
• In its first two matches during this stretch, Pepperdine won 4-3 at No. 68 Washington on Tuesday and 4-0 at Gonzaga on Wednesday.
• Three Waves are ranked in singles: No. 10 Anatasiia Grechkina, No. 43 Ziva Falkner and No. 122 Sonja Zhiyenbayeva.
• 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.

 
Last Time: Bears Split Vs. Wolfpack, Demon Deacons
Cal dominated Wake Forest in a 4-1 win in ACC action last Saturday at Hellman. Cal's court-one duo of clinched the doubles point when Mao Mushika and Johanne Svendsen bested Nevena Carton and Kady Tannenbaum 6-4, and then sophomore Anya Murthy earned her first clinching win as a Bear when she beat Aubrey Nisbet 6-1, 7-5 to wrap up the victory.
 
The Bears suffered their first loss of the dual-match season in a 4-1 setback against No. 27 NC State last Friday in Berkeley. Mushika bested 60th-ranked Anna Zyryanova 6-2, 7-5 at court-three singles.
 
Next Time
Cal plays at No. 53 UC Santa Barbara on March 14 and faces the Waves again March 15 in Malibu.
 
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