California Team Page
OJAI, Calif. - The Golden Bears will seek to win their second consecutive doubles invitational crown at the Pac-12 Championships on Sunday, as senior Annie Goransson and sophomore Cecilia Estlander edged a Stanford pair in Saturday's semifinal round at Libbey Park.
Last year, California's Tayler Davis and Laura Posylkin won the same title at the conference tournament.
In Saturday morning's semifinal, the fourth-seeded Estlander and Goransson defeated the Cardinal's Amelia Herring and Lindsey Kostas, 9-7. They Bears claimed a berth in the final against Washington's third-seeded Natali Coronel and Grace Ysidora at 11 a.m. on Sunday at Libbey Park.
"Playing in a Pac-12 final is exciting." Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "They played well today, and they communicated with each other very well. It was nice that they got to play on the main courts, as the women were kind of featured there today."
Saturday's match marked just the third time that Estlander and Goransson played together in doubles as Bears. The first two times were on Friday at Pac-12s. Estlander, in fact, hadn't played much in the spring, after playing extensively in the fall.
"That was a pleasant surprise," Augustus said of Estlander's play at Pac-12s. "Cessi struggled with injury on and off this spring. Playing with Annie, a very experienced doubles player, helped. Considering they hadn't played a match together before the Pac-12 Championships, they compete and get along very well. Sometimes there's a bit of luck and chemistry involved. Annie's really able to set up the points well, and Cessi's up on top of the net looking to pick off the balls."
Bears competed in a total of four semifinal matches, including a singles championship semi that featured the eighth-ranked and second-seeded Anett Schutting. The Cal junior fell to Stanford's third-seeded and 19th-ranked Krista Hardebeck, 6-4, 6-2.
Earlier in the morning, Schutting played in the doubles championship semis, pairing with freshman Lynn Chi. The third-seeded and 29th-ranked Bears lost to UCLA's 58th-ranked Courtney Dolehide and Pamela Montez, 8-6.
Davis played in the singles invitational semifinals against Stanford's second-seeded Ellen Tsay, but with Tsay leading 4-2 in the first set, the Bear retired with an injury.
The Pac-12 Championships end on Sunday.
2013 Pac-12 Championships
Ojai Valley Athletic Club | Ojai, Calif.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Singles Championship
Semifinal Round
[3] No. 19 Krista Hardebeck (Stanford) def. [2] No. 8 Anett Schutting - 6-4, 6-2
Singles Invitational
Semifinal Round
[2] Ellen Tsay (Stanford) def. Tayler Davis (Cal) - 4-2 Ret. (inj.)
Doubles Championship
Semifinal Round
No. 58 Dolehide/Montez (UCLA) def. [3] No. 29 Chi/Schutting (Cal) - 8-6
Doubles Invitational
Semifinal Round
[4] Estlander/Goransson (Cal) def. Herring/Kostas (Stanford) - 9-7
