Feb. 23, 1998
ON TAP: Off to its best start since the 1989 Golden Bears opened the season with an 11-game winning streak, the 37th-ranked California men's tennis team(6-0) will attempt to keep its undefeated season alive when the Bears host Utah, Wednesday, Feb. 25 and then travel to top-ranked Stanford. Wednesday's match is scheduled to begin at 1:30, while Saturday's will begin at 12 noon.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Utah enters Wednesday's tilt with a 6-3 overall record and a No. 65 fall ranking. The Utes do not have any players currently ranked on the ITA/Rolex singles or doubles charts. Last season, Utah upended Cal, 4-3, reducing Cal's lead in the all-time series to 19-6-1. The defending national champion Stanford Cardinal enter the week with a perfect 10-0 mark and last weekend won the 1998 ITA/USTA Men's National Indoor Team Tennis Championship. The Cardinal are led by the brother tandem of Mike and Bob Bryan, who rank No. 2 and No. 5 in nation respectively. Stanford has four other players ranked on the ITA singles charts, including No. 19 Alex Kim, No. 28 Ryan Wolters, No. 65 Paul Goldstein and No. 72 Geoff Abrams. Last season, Stanford knocked off the Bears twice and lead the all-time series 66-102-2.
THE LINEUPS: Head coach Peter Wright has yet to set a lineup for this week's matches. However, look for Bobby Mahal, Nathan Jackmon, Chris Santoso, Adrian Barnes, Minh Le and Kian Raiszadeh to see action in the singles line up. The teams of Mahal/Jackmon, Santoso/Dave Sutton and Le/Erik Dmytruk should comprising the doubles squads.
PREVIOUS ACTION: The Bears continued to roll through their early dual match schedule with a 4-2 victory over UC Santa Barbara Saturday night at the San Francisco Tennis Club. With the victory, Cal (6-0) is now off to its best start since 1989 Golden Bears opened 11-0. Bobby Mahal and Minh Le both posted victories at Nos. 1 and 2 singles to get the Bears out to an early 2-0 advantage. But UCSB rallied back to tie the match as Jong Min Lee slipped by Chris Santoso 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 and Simon Shen knocked of a rusty Nathan Jackmon 7-5, 6-2 (Jackmon made his first dual match appearance Saturday night since being sidelined with a shoulder injury in mid-January).Adrian Barnes then easily got past Daniel Rheydt at No. 5 6-1, 6-1 but it was Kian Raiszadeh who finally clinched the match for the Bears with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the No. 6 position over Peter Webb. With Cal up 4-2, after singles play, doubles matches were canceled.
CAL IN THE RANKINGS: After entering the 1997-98 campaign in the No. 41 slot according to the ITA/Rolex Preseason charts, the Bears climbed four spots in the fall rankings and now hold down the No. 37 position. Individually, Cal players were ranked as follows in the February 16 individual poll:
Singles
62. Bobby Mahal (Jr.)
83. Nathan Jackmon (Sr.)
Doubles
33. Bobby Mahal (Jr.)/Nathan Jackmon (Sr.)
NOTE: The ITA's Spring I Team and Individual Rankings will be released March 10.
FINALLY AT FULL STRENGTH: After playing its first five dual matches with a variety of starting lineups, Cal was at full strength last week for the first time in its match against UCSB. The trio of Adrian Barnes (arm), Nathan Jackmon (shoulder) and Chris Santoso (ankle) had all missed at least three matches, with Jackmon, Cal's projected No. 2 man out since Jan. 20. The rust was visible, however, as both Jackmon and Santoso lost.
BEAR NOTES: In Cal's six dual matches to date, the Bears have only dropped four points and lead all opponents by a 35-4 margin ... freshman Adrian Barnes is already having a big impact. Despite missing three of Cal's dual matches with an injured arm, Barnes has still managed to post a 10-1 overall record, 4-0 dual match. He earned a spot in the Bears starting lineup during the fall and has seen action in the Nos. 2-5 slots so far this season ... the freshman class of Barnes, Eric Dmytruk and Scott Kintz is a combined 30-8 so far this season.
THE COACHES: Peter Wright enters his fifth year at the helm of the Cal program. The ninth coach and fourth alumnus to lead the Bears, he boasts a 54-41 (.568) career dual match record and earned 1997 Pacific-10 Conference Southern Division Coach of the Year honors following last season. Wright is assisted by associate head coach Cordell Ho, also in his fifth year with the Bears.
