BERKELEY - California's Anett Schutting powered past Nina Lagvilava on court one to clinch the eighth-seeded and eighth-ranked Golden Bears' 4-0 win over Stony Brook (12-5) in the first round of the NCAA Championships on Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Host Cal (17-5) advances to face No. 25 Auburn - which beat Saint Mary's, 4-2, in Friday's other match at Hellman - in the NCAA second round at noon on Saturday.
"It's just nice to get your first win under your belt," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "We had to wait a while to get our match started, because they had a great match before us. But I was just glad the girls stayed focused in both singles and doubles. I was really pleased with how we started our first match of the tournament, because we haven't played a team match for a couple weeks now."
Schutting - who is the eighth-seed in the NCAA singles tournament - beat the 124th-ranked Lavilava, 6-2, 6-4. Senior Annie Goransson claimed the first singles point with her 6-1, 6-0, triumph over Stony Brook's Chloe Pike on court six. Sophomore Zsofi Susanyi - the fifth-seed in the NCAA singles tournament - added a 6-1, 6-2, win over Jackie Altansarnai on court three. This marked Susanyi's first action since pulling out of the Pac-12 singles quarterfinals on April 26 with an injury.
"I felt good to be back on the court," Susanyi said. "I was a little bit rusty, especially in the beginning. But all I was thinking about was I want to win this match because I want that point on the board."
Earlier, Cal breezed to the doubles point thanks to wins by senior Tayler Davis and junior Kelly Chui over Lisa Seyton and Becky Stilkind, 8-1, on court three and senior Annie Goransson/freshman Klara Fabikova against Altansarnai/Louise Badoche, 8-1, on court two.
The first match of the day began at 10 a.m. but didn't end until roughly 2:45 p.m., as the Tigers (19-8) and Gaels (13-10) battled for the right to advance. Auburn finally won when the Tigers' Jen Pfeifler topped Jade Frampton 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, in court-four singles.
The Cal-Stony Brook match began at about 3 p.m., with the Bears holding serve on their home court.
