Tuesday, 05/17/2011

Dear Friends of Cal Tennis,

NCAA Tournament First and Second Rounds: Golden Bear Men and Women Advance to Round of 16

This past weekend, the Cal Men's Tennis team advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time since 2003, by virtue of their opening round 4-0 win over the Marist College Red Foxes on Friday May 13th, and their thrilling 4-3 victory over the Fresno State Bulldogs in Saturday's second round matchup at Hellman Tennis Complex.

In the Friday match, Cal claimed the first point of the day with wins at the top two courts. Cal's No. 23 ranked duo of junior Nick Andrews and sophomore Christoffer Konigsfeldt defeated Marist's Landon Greene and Nicolas Pisecky, 8-1, while freshman Ben McLachlan and senior Pedro Zerbini clinched the point for the Bears with an 8-4 win over Matt Himmelsbach and Joris Van Eck at court two. Play was suspended at court three when the doubles match was clinched, but Cal's 87th-ranked team of sophomore Carlos Cueto and senior Jonathan Dahan held a 5-2 lead against Will Reznek and Lorenzo Rossi at the time.

Into singles, Cal secured first-set victories on all but two courts. McLachlan provided the clincher with his 6-2, 6-2 win over Greene.

In Saturday's second round match, the Golden Bears found themselves facing a red-hot Fresno State squad that was currently riding an 11-match win streak before facing Cal. The upstart Bulldogs had just knocked off 19th-ranked Minnesota, 4-3, in their opening round match at Hellman, and carried that momentum into the second round as they claimed the doubles point over the Bears with wins at the top two courts.

In the only singles match that did not go three sets, Andrews finished off Fresno's Jean-Charles Diame in under an hour with a 6-1, 6-1 win at court three to put Cal on the board and tie the match at one all. One court down, Konigsfeldt dropped his first set to Francis Alcantara, 6-3, but fought for a 6-1 win in the second before he went on to win, 6-3, in the third to give Cal its second point of the day.

In one of the most intriguing on-court battles, Zerbini came through with a 6-4 win in the first set after he trailed, 4-1, to Rikus de Villiers. But the Bulldog responded to take the second set, 6-3. Zerbini stood fast and came up with a 7-5 win in the final set to give the Bears a commanding 3-1 lead in the match.

Down two points the Bulldogs came alive to knot the match at three-all with wins at courts two and five. With the score knotted at 3-3, it all came down to court six. There, sophomore Riki McLachlan, playing in his first dual singles match since February 20th, found himself back in action, after a late lineup change, facing Fresno's David Ayoun. Initially, Riki found himself behind the count, but he stayed the course to break Ayoun's serve at four-all in the third set, and served out the final game to come back from a 7-5 loss in his first set and win, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to clinch the team victory, 4-3, for the Bears.

In the Women's draw, also hosted at Hellman, Cal (ranked No. 9), also won both of its weekend matches to advance to the Round of 16. Saturday, the Golden Bears opened up with a 4-0 victory over Boston University, while in Sunday's second round, Cal defeated No. 18-ranked USC, 4-1, to advance.

Round of 16 Matchups: Men to Face Tennessee, Women Will Take on Georgia

The break will be short for both the men and women, as they both advance to the Round of 16 this week at Stanford. First, this Thursday, May 19th at 9AM, the men will face third-seeded Tennessee (23-4) at Taube Family Tennis Center. The women will continue their tournament run on Friday, May 20th at 6PM, when they take on the eighth-seeded Georgia Bulldogs (18-4).

For the men, quarterfinal matches will be held on May 21st, semi-finals will be on May 23rd, with the Championship match being held on Tuesday May 24th. The women's quarterfinals will be on May 22nd, semi-finals will be on May 23rd, and the Championship match will also be held on May 24th at Taube Family Tennis Center. For ticket information, including all-session passes, please click HERE.

Zerbini, Andrews and Konigsfeldt Selected for NCAA Individuals

No. 20-ranked senior Pedro Zerbini was chosen as one of 64 singles players to compete in the 2011 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. Golden Bears junior Nick Andrews and sophomore Christoffer Konigsfeldt were also selected as one of 32 teams in the doubles championship. No. 64-ranked sophomore Carlos Cueto was named as an alternate for the singles tourney.

Zerbini's only other selection to the singles championship came a year ago, but he has played in the doubles championship on two occasions; once with Jonathan Dahan, and once with Geoff Chizever. Andrews and Konigsfeldt will each be making their first appearances in the NCAA Championships.

The NCAA singles and doubles competitions will be conducted May 25-30 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Stanford, CA following the conclusion of the team championship (May 20-24).

2011 College Day at NCAA's

On Saturday May 21st, from 9AM to Noon, the USTA Player Development, USTA Northern California, and the USTA Collegiate Varsity Committee will host their 2011 College Day event at Stanford's Kissick Auditorium. Cal Men's Tennis Head Coach Peter Wright will be one of the event's panelists.

The event is open to all High School and Junior Tennis players, their parents, and coaches who are interested in learning more about all the opportunities that exist in College Tennis. The event cost is $10 per person or $25 for a family, and includes a ticket to the NCAA Quarterfinal matches that afternoon. For more information, please visit: http://www.usta.com/Play-Tennis/College-Tennis/college_day_at_ncaas_2011/.


Cal Tennis Camps

Our camps are the last 3 weeks in July, with mid week Adult camps in the evenings. The camps are fun-filled, provide great instruction to help improve your game, and make a great gift for the tennis player in your home! Go to www.calbears.com/camps for more information. Camps are filling up quickly, so reserve your spot today!

Peter Wright
Head Coach
Men's Tennis
University of California - Berkeley
pwright@berkeley.edu
510.642.1153