College Tennis News - No. 13 Cal Drops 6-1 Match at No. 6 USC Fabikova Wins in Singles for the Bears

LOS ANGELES - California freshman Klara Fabikova pushed her personal singles win streak to six, but the 13th-ranked Golden Bears lost, 6-1, at No. 6 USC on Friday at Marks Tennis Stadium. Cal's record now stands at 10-5 (4-1 in the Pac-12), while the Trojans improved to 16-2 (5-0 Pac-12).

Fabikova, ranked 80th in singles, upset USC's No. 27 Zoe Scandalis, 7-6(3), 7-5 on court three.

The Bears were without sophomore All-American Zsofi Susanyi, who is ranked fourth in singles and is ranked 23rd in doubles when partnered with Fabikova.

In doubles, USC won on courts two and three to secure the point. On court two, the Cal team of Fabikova and junior Alice Duranteau fell to No. 36 Scandalis and Gabriella DeSimone, 8-3, while seniors Tayler Davis and Annie Goransson lost to Danielle Lao/Giuliana Olmos, 8-5. The 25th-ranked Cal team of freshman Lynn Chi and junior Anett Schutting dropped an 8-6 result to No. 1 Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria.

At court-one singles, the sixth-ranked Schutting fell to No. 2 Santamaria, 6-3, 6-1, Goransson lost to No. 70 DeSimone, 6-4, 6-1, on court five and then No. 59 Chi suffered a 6-3, 6-3 setback to No. 7 Lao on court two to clinch the team victory for the Trojans at 4-0.

On court four, Davis lost to No. 116 Olmos, 6-2, 7-6(3), to make the score 5-0. Fabikova then got the Bears on the scoreboard with her victory on court three, before USC wrapped up the match on court six, with Cal's Duranteau losing to Christian, 7-6(9), 6-2, to make the final score 6-1.

"Klara had a big win today," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "I think that was Klara's biggest win so far. Anett and Lynn were close at No. 1 doubles; they played well and had some chances. That's the best they've played against Christian and Santamaria, which is the top-ranked team in the nation. A lot of the matches were close, though the overall score doesn't indicate it. It was a four-hour long match and was very competitive.

"USC played well. We beat them 5-2 last time, and they came out ready to play. Against USC and UCLA, we've always a back and forth rivalry. They're ranked ahead of us, so it's not a bad loss by any means. I'm sure we'll see them again in the Pac-12 Championships. It's important that the girls competed well with UCLA coming up tomorrow."

Cal next takes on No. 4 UCLA at noon on Saturday, March 30, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

No. 6 USC 6, No. 13 California 1
March 29, 2013, in Los Angeles
Marks Tennis Stadium

Doubles (1) No. 1 Christian/Santamaria (USC) def. No. 25 Chi/Schutting (Cal) - 8-6
(2) No. 36 DeSimone/Scandalis (USC) def. Duranteau/Fabikova (Cal) - 8-3
(3) Lao/Olmos (USC) def. Davis/Goransson (Cal) - 8-5 (USC wins doubles point)

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1.

Singles
(1) No. 2 Sabrina Santamaria (USC) def. No. 6 Anett Schutting (Cal) - 6-3, 6-1
(2) No. 7 Danielle Lao (USC) def. No. 59 Lynn Chi (Cal) - 6-4, 6-3
(3) No. 80 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. No. 27 Zoë Scandalis (USC) - 7-6(3), 7-5
(4) No. 116 Giuliana Olmos (USC) def. Tayler Davis (Cal) - 6-2, 7-6(3)
(5) No. 70 Gabriella DeSimone (USC) def. Annie Goransson (Cal) - 6-4, 6-1
(6) Kaitlyn Christian (USC) def. Alice Duranteau (Cal) - 7-6(9), 6-2

Order of finish: 1, 5, 2, 4, 3, 6.