The "Wright" Word: "Balazs is a wonderfully talented player. His senior year will be exciting to watch."

An outstanding tennis player that looks to be one of the top guys on the team again this year…enter the year ranked No.19 regionally and will be looking to climb the charts early and often Fall 2003: suffer through injury and a tough tournament schedule registering a 3-4 mark…advanced to the quarterfinals of the Northwest Regionals bowing out to Sven Swinnen of Oregon (6-2,6-2)…2002-03: posted a 19-14 overall record against some of the steepest competition the nation had to offer… made the Pac-10 Championship quarterfinals by defeating Jason Menke of Oregon (6-3, 6-2)…was a NCAA quarterfinalist and help the Bears to the round of 16 with two strong victories against Boise State’s Nils Klemann (6-2, 6-2) and Ohio State’ Phil Metz (7-5, 6-0)…had two different doubles mates in dual matches last spring tallying, the combination of Veress and Patrick Briaud produced 10 victories in 14 matches, including seven in a row over January and February…paired with Conor Niland the two went 6-3, including a NCAA round of 16 victory (8-2) over Contini/Metz of Ohio State…FALL 2002: Put together a 6-4 fall singles record over three tournaments…dropped Georgia’s Stephan Timu, 6-4, 6-4, in the first match of the Napa Valley Tennis Classic…defeated No. 48 Mark Dietrich of Tennessee, 7-6(5), 6-3, to advance to second round of main draw at ITA All-American Championships…had amazing run at Omni Hotels Regional Championships, reaching the semifinals by defeating No. 32 Scott Lipsky of Stanford, 7-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals…in doubles, teamed with Robert Kowalczyk…the pair defeated No. 38 Levant and Magallan of Florida, 8-5, in the All-American Championships…2001-02: Named honorable mention All-Pac-10 and Pac-10 All-Academic First Team in 2002…finished season with No. 83 ranking and second most overall wins on Bear squad…played mostly out of the second singles spot, and was the only player to see time at court one besides John Paul Fruttero…key 7-6, 7-6 victory over No. 75 Stefan Suter of Pepperdine helped Cal to big 6-1 upset of then-No. 5 Waves…dropped No. 42 Matt Hanlin of Washington, leading Bears to first Pac-10 win of season…teamed with Ben Miles and Patrick Briaud in doubles…with Miles, pair was most consistent Bear tandem during the middle of the season, compiling 7-3 record during Cal’s 10-match winning streak…pair played mostly at court two, with four matches at the top spot…at end of season, joined with Briaud at No. 3 court…though pair had never played together before, they quickly compiled 3-3 record…against UMBC in NCAA Regionals, pair downed Retriever tandem, 8-1, in only 28 minutes…compiled 6-4 record in fall…advanced to second round of ITA All American Championships Main Draw with win over Kristofer Stahlberg of Mississippi…at Omni Hotels Northwest Regional Championships, came within one match of championships…teamed with Chase Exon at regional championships, and duo advanced to quarterfinal round by defeating Santa Clara’s team of Hidalgo and Mattioli by 8-3 count…2000-01: Named Pac-10 Freshman of Year, as well as being placed on Pac-10 Second All-Conference team…was declared Region VIII ITA Rookie Player of Year…spent most of his first season on second court, compiling 9-7 record there…11 dual wins ranked 3rd on team, while his 21 overall wins were second most for Bears…came up big in Arizona State match, crushing Nicolas Dubey by 6-3, 6-1 mark…struggled late in season, before rebounding to defeat Jean Noel Grinda by mark of 7-6, 7-5 in match against UCLA…finished season ranked 62nd in country…in doubles, teamed with Ben Miles to form Cal’s winningest doubles team with 14 dual victories and 15 overall victories throughout season…the pair started season with 7-0 mark, which helped team off to five game winning streak…started off fall with bang, advancing to quarterfinals of National Clay Courts by defeating Mariano Pettigroso of Arkansas, 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 …amassed 7-2 record in singles, grabbing two more wins at ITA Regional championships against Alex Krohn of Fresno State and Buck Mink of Oregon…teamed up with Robert Kowalczyk in doubles, going 2-2 in fall … one win came at National Clay Courts against Gustafsson and Klementz of Middle Tennessee (4-6, 6-3, 6-1) and other came at ITA Regional Championships against Stanford’s Kao and Cardoso, 8-2.

PERSONAL/PREVIOUS: One of top juniors from Hungary, Veress has played in junior Grand Slam events and men’s professional events as amateur…reached high of 670 on ATP computer at 19 years old…majoring in business administration…full name is Balazs Veress…parents are Eta and Gyula Veress…hobbies include reading, traveling and watching movies…born Oct. 12, 1980 in Budapest.

VERESS’ Career Record

Singles Doubles

2000-01 11-11 21-15 15-3 18-7

2001-02 15-10 21-15 15-9 19-13

2002-03 11-8 8-6 15-5 16-7

Fall ’03 0-0 3-4 0-0 3-2