College Tennis News - No. 16 Cal Hosts No. 12 Pepperdine Saturday Bears Play the Waves on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Hellman

BERKELEY - Sixteenth-ranked California hosts 12th-ranked Pepperdine in a nonconference dual match at 1 p .m. on Saturday, March 16, at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Golden Bears (7-5) bring a two-match winning streak - including an upset of then-No. 4 Duke on March 10 - into this weekend's clash with the Waves (10-4).

Scouting the Bears
• Cal has a 3-3 record vs. common opponents with Pepperdine; the Bears defeated Michigan, 4-3, on Jan. 26; beat Pacific, 5-2, on Feb. 2; lost at USC, 7-0, on Feb. 8; lost vs. Ohio State, 4-0, on Feb. 15; fell at San Diego State, 4-3, on Feb. 28; upset Duke, 4-3, on March 10
• The Bears boast three players ranked in singles by the ITA: No. 47/junior Campbell Johnson, No. 57/junior Ben McLachlan and No. 63/senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt
• Cal features the following ranked doubles teams: No. 33 Johnson/Konigsfeldt, No. 42 B. McLachlan/senior Riki McLachlan and No. 45 freshman Mads Engsted/B. McLachlan
• Konigsfeldt - a Danish Davis Cup player - and Riki McLachlan are Cal's co-captains
• Peter Wright is in his 20th season as Cal's head coach

Scouting the Waves
• Pepperdine lost to then-No. 9 Ohio State, 4-1, in its last match on March 12 in Malibu, Calif.
• The Waves have a 3-4 record vs. common opponents with Cal, beating Pacific, 7-0, on Jan. 20; losing vs. Ohio State, 4-0, on Feb. 16; losing vs. Duke, 4-1, on Feb. 17; winning, 4-0, at San Diego State on Feb. 28; defeating Michigan, 4-3, on March 6; losing at USC, 4-2, on March 8; and losing to Ohio State, 4-1, on March 12
• Pepperdine has the following ranked singles players: No. 11 Sebastian Fanselow, No. 53 Francis Alcantara, No. 83 Finn Tearney and No. 107 Alex Sarkissian
• The Waves' also have one ranked doubles team in No. 47 Alcantara/Tearney
• Adam Steinberg is in his 11 year as head coach at Pepperdine

Last Time
Gregory Bayane staved off multiple match points before the sophomore delivered a singles win that gave No. 24 California a 4-3 upset win over No. 4 Duke on March 10 at the Hellman Tennis Complex. With all in attendance watching the last match of the day, Bayane beat 70th-ranked Blue Devil Chris Mengel, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(4), on court four.

The Bears won the doubles point when junior Ben McLachlan and freshman Mads Engsted outlasted the No. 9 duo of Michael Redlicki and Jason Tahir, 9-8(5), on court two. The Blue Devils had opened doubles play with its fourth-ranked team of Henrique Cunha and Raphael Hemmeler defeated Cal's 18th-ranked team of senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt and junior Campbell Johnson, 8-3, on court one. But Cal tied matters when Bayane and sophomore Chase Melton knocked off No. 43 Mengel/Fred Saba, 8-5, with the court two match deciding the point.

Cal fell behind in the match, 2-1, when, in singles play, Tahir beat sophomore Nikhil Jayashankar, 6-1, 6-1, on court six and then No. 44 Hemmeler defeated Engsted on court five, 6-2, 6-3.

The Bears climbed back into the lead at 3-2 when No. 34 Konigsfeldt beat No. 46 Saba, 7-5, 6-1, on court two and then No. 69 Johnson upset No. 31 Redlicki, 7-5, 7-6(7), in a tight match on court three.

McLachlan, ranked No. 56 in singles, took No. 9 Cunha to three sets on court one, but ultimately fell, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4, to tie the match at 3-3, before Bayane's heroics on court two handed Cal the victory.

Next Time
Cal concludes its nonconference dual-match schedule in the Lone Star State, playing at TCU on March 24 and at Baylor on March 26.