Inside the Lair feature: Bjorn Hoffmann, Bears Peaking Together
Spring 2020: Was 9-5 in singles and 13-6 in doubles in his senior season…won seven of his last nine singles matches…clinched Cal’s victories over Sacramento State and Nevada with wins over Sac State’s Elliot Arnarp, 6-3, 6-2, and Nevada’s Benjamin Campi, 6-3, 6-0, respectively…overall, Hoffmann compiled a 67-34 singles record and a 39-28 doubles record in four seasons at Cal.
Fall 2019: Ranked 81st in singles and (with Ben Draper) 22nd in doubles in the final Oracle ITA rankings of the fall…the senior went 9-4 in doubles and 6-4 in singles in the first half of the year…he reached the singles round of 32 in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships…Hoffmann partnered with Ben Draper to go 6-2 in doubles, with the two Bears reaching the final of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, beating Portland’s Tom Hann and Kostya Nesterenko, 6-4, 6-4, in the semis before falling to Oregon’s eighth-ranked Joshua Charlton and Ty Gentry, 6-3, 6-2, in the title match…the two Bears competed in the fall-ending Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, getting to the doubles round of 16.
Spring 2019: Was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete for the second time in his career...earned Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention...posted a 28-8 singles record and 5-2 doubles record in his third season at Cal…Hoffmann was 20-5 in singles in dual matches, which included a 7-1 Pac-12 singles record…he ended the season with a 10-match winning streak…he was 2-1 in doubles with Dominic Barretto…clinched four dual match victories, including wins over Purdue (beating Maksymilian Raupuk, 6-1, 7-5) in the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge, Saint Mary’s (defeating Matis Bot, 7-5, 6-1), UC Santa Barbara (Joseph Rotheram, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2) and – in the NCAA team tournament round of 64 – Drake [Ben Clark, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1].
Fall 2018: Went 8-3 in singles and 3-1 in doubles…won his first four singles matches and his first three doubles matches of the season, going 3-0 paired with Jackson Suh in the Silverado Invitational.
Spring 2018: Was 1-2 in singles in dual matches to compile a 7-7 record for the season…beat Oregon’s Riki Oshima, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in Cal’s 4-3 loss to the Ducks in the Pac-12 quarterfinals…finished 5-7 in doubles.
Fall 2017: Repeated as the top-flight singles champ at the Aggie Invitational, beating teammate Paul Barretto, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, in the final, and finished with a 6-5 singles record for the semester…also competed in singles in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships…Hoffmann was also 5-7 in doubles…he paired with Connor heap to reach the A final at the Aggie Invitational, but they lost to Nevada's Peter O'Donovan and Robert Margitfalvi, 8-5…also teamed with Jackson Suh to reach the doubles round of 32 at regionals.
Spring 2017: Completed his first collegiate season with a 23-14 singles record and 16-13 doubles record, including a 13-11 doubles record with J.T. Nishimura…Hoffmann and Nishimura posted a 10-10 record on court three in dual matches…Hoffmann ended the year with wins in his last three singles matches, with all three coming during Cal’s run to the NCAA team tournament’s round of 16…those wins were against Tennessee Tech’s Carlos Tajes, 6-1, 6-3, Northwestern‘s Jason Seidman, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and North Carolina’s Bo Boyden, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0…Hoffmann clinched Cal’s victory over Northwestern in beating Seidman to send Cal to Athens, Georgia, for the rest of the NCAA tournament…the win over Boyden represented Cal’s lone point in a 4-1 loss to UNC in the round of 16… Hoffmann clinched the opener of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Cal, beating Antoine Noel, 7-6(3), 6-4, in a 4-0 win over Cal Poly in Berkeley.
Fall 2016: Finished his freshman fall with a 12-3 singles record, including a title at the Aggie Invitational besting Portland’s Mathieu Garcia, 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(3), in the final…posted three wins at the UCSB Classic…reached the round of 16 at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, posting a win over Washington’s 68th-ranked Mitch Stewart, 7-6, 6-3…partnered with J.T. Nishimura to reached the quarterfinals at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, falling to the Stanford duo of Sameer Kumar and Yale Goldberg, 8-6.
Personal: Legal studies major…Hoffmann had an 88% win rate in four years of high school play, and earned many honors while playing high school tennis, including first team all PCL 2014-2016, OC Varsity All-County 2014-2016, PCL League Finalist 2014-2015, PCL League Champion 2016, CIF Champion 2016, All-American 2015-2016, and All-American MVP 2016…team accolades include CIF finalist (2013), CIF semifinalist (2016), state champion (2016) and league finalists (2013, 2016)…mother Biljana Longman and father Carsten Hoffmann both attended UC Irvine and played for the Anteaters' tennis teams - and are now working in education and finance, respectively…has two brothers, Nik (15) and Niels (10)…post-graduate goals are to play on the professional tour and start his own business.
