College Tennis News - No. 14 Cal Hosts ITA Kick-Off Weekend

BERKELEY - With a berth to the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship on the line, the No. 14 California men's tennis team opens its 2013 home schedule with the ITA Kick-Off Weekend from Friday to Saturday, Jan. 25-26, at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Golden Bears welcome No. 20 No. 20 Michigan, No. 35 Santa Clara and No. 38 Boise State to Berkeley for their first duals of the season. The winner of the four-team event earns this site's automatic entry into the indoor championship, which is slated to take place Feb. 15-18 in Seattle.

Last season, Cal won the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Berkeley (see below) to advance to the 2012 ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

In the 2013 version of the Kick-Off Weekend, the Bears play against Boise State at 10 a.m. while Michigan and Santa Clara square off at roughly 1 p.m. (depending on the length of the first dual) on Friday. The losers play the consolation match at 10 a.m. on Sunday, with the championship match starting no later than 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Watch live streaming video of the matches via this page on CalBears.com.

The ITA Kick-Off Weekend will feature some of the nation's top players, including - in singles - Cal's own No. 42 Christoffer Konigsfeldt, a senior, and No. 66 junior Ben McLachlan, No. 28 Andrew Bettles of Boise State, No. 48 Vlad Steffn from Michigan and No. 65 John Lamble of Santa Clara. The top doubles teams in the event include Cal's No. 7 junior Ben McLachlan and senior Riki McLachlan and No. 59 Ben McLachlan and Konigsfeldt as well as Michigan's No. 30 Evan King and Shaun Bernstein. (The singles and doubles ITA rankings are as of Jan. 3.)

For more information on 15 ITA Kick-Off Weekend sites across the country, please visit the ITA website.

Cal is coming off a pair of tournaments in southern California: Junior Campbell Johnson won the singles title and - with Konigsfeldt - captured the doubles title at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Palm Springs, while four Bears played in the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Thousand Oaks.

Last Year in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend
The 13th-ranked Cal men's tennis team secured its first bid into the ITA National Team Indoor Championships since 2004 with a 4-0 victory against No. 27 San Diego on Jan. 30, at the Hellman Tennis Complex, in the 2012 ITA Kick-off Weekend event. Ahmed Ismail's singles win over USD's Victor Pugliese, 6-4, 6-3, clinched the victory over the Toreros and sent Cal to its first ITA Indoor Championships since assistant coach Tyler Browne was a freshman on the squad in 2003-04.

In the first round of last year's ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Cal blanked No. 32 LSU, 4-0.

Next Time
Cal hosts Pacific on Feb. 2 at the Hellman Tennis Complex.