California Team Page

Dear Friends of Cal Tennis,
 
As the fall season beings to end we bring you the latest news in Cal Men's Tennis, which includes victories at the UOP Tiger Invitational, a recap from the Florida State USTA Clay Court Invitational, former Bear Pedro Zerbini has his first pro tour victory, and a look ahead to the Bear's final fall tournament.
 
USTA Clay Court Invitational Recap
 
The Bears jumped out to a fast start at the USTA Clay Court Invitational, being held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL, with all 3 Bears winning their first round matches. Gregory Bayane was victorious over Martin Redlicki of the USTA 6-2, 6-3, Chris Konigsfeldt took down Penn State's Tomas Hanzlik 6-3, 7-6 (3), and Mads Engsted pulled out a close match against Kai-Wen Lai of Kentucky 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. In the second round only Konigsfeldt was victorious, beating Florida State's 6th seeded Benjamin Lock 6-3, 6-4. However, Konigsfeldt couldn't keep the run going, falling 6-4, 6-4 in the Quarterfinals to eventual finalist Michael Redlicki from Duke.
 
With only three players traveling to the tournament, which was hosted by Florida State University, the Bear's only featured one doubles team, comprised of Chris Konigsfeldt and Mads Engsted. The Cal duo were tested early with a matchup against the 4th seeded pair of Quiroz and Hanfmann from USC. The Bears fought tough, but were unable to prevail against the Trojans, falling 9-7.
 
UOP Tiger Invitational
 
In the top singles flight (Orange Flight), the Bears only featured one player, Campbell Johnson (the two seed). After receiving a bye in the first round, Johnson won his second round match 6-2, 6-2 over Jurgen DeJager from Cal Poly, before falling in a long, hard fought match to Stanford's Denis Lin.
 
In the second singles flight, Andrew Scholnick had a great tournament, winning the Black Flight. Scholnick beat players from Fresno State, UC Davis, and Cal Poly on his way to the finals, where he beat Pacific's Ben Mirkin 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
 
In the third singles flight, Cal's lone player, Jordan Smith, won his four matches to win the White Flight. Smith topped players from Sonoma State, Modesto Junior College, Cal Poly, and beat USF's Jonathan Knowlman 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the finals.
 
In doubles action Campbell Johnson and Chase Melton won their first round match against a Cal Poly team before falling in the second round to the 4th seeded pair from UC Davis. In that same draw, Andrew Scholnick and Wyatt Houghton lost in the first round, but made a run into the finals of the consolation draw. In the doubles B Flight, Nikhil Jayashankar and Jordan Smith won their first two matches against Sonoma State and UC Davis, before falling in the semifinals to a team from USF.
 
Overall, this was an excellent tournament for the Bears and some great experience for the younger players on our roster. Winning the Black and White Flights in singles shows how deep this team is and the continued development of that depth will make this team much stronger for this year and years to come.

Players in the Pros
 
Two former Bears, Nick Andrews and Pedro Zerbini, are currently playing ITF Futures tournaments.
 
Pedro Zerbini has been in Brazil the past few months playing Futures tournaments. He won his first $10,000 event in singles last week in Porto Alegre, Brazil, beating Thiago Monteiro in the finals. Pedro's singles ranking was at a career high of 608 and his doubles ranking was 644 before the tournament.
 
Nick Andrews was in California during September playing tournaments throughout the state. Overall Nick finished the month going 2-4 in singles and 4-2 in doubles with partner Dennis Novolo. In both Futures tournaments at Claremont and Costa Mesa, Nick and his partner reached the semifinals before falling. Nick's current singles ranking is 1441 (his career high was 1391 on 7/30/2012), and his current doubles ranking is 1069, two spots off his career high of 1067 on 10/8/2012.
 
Up Next
 
This weekend, the McLachlan brothers (Riki and Ben) will travel to New York to compete in the ITA/USTA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The event is being held at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows and will run from Thursday to Saturday.

This has been a great fall season for the Bears and we look to finish strong in New York. Thank you for all your support this past weekend and in the future. Go Bears!!