All eyes were on the top court as Cal junior Ben McLachlan fiercely battled Arizona’s Kieren Thompson in the last match of the day on Saturday.
After McLachlan took the first set, Thompson fought back to clinch a back-and-forth second set.
The two traded points in a 10-point pro-set tiebreaker, until McLachlan started playing closer to the net. On match point, Thompson could not successfully return the ball, shanking a wide forehand into the alleys and handing the match to McLachlan.
But by the time McLachlan defeated Thompson, the outcome of the game was long over. The Bears had won the game a long time ago.
The Cal men’s tennis team clinched the match much earlier in the day. The only thing McLachlan’s victory gave the Bears was their first sweep this year.
This weekend, there was no luck involved when the Cal men’s tennis team conquered both Utah and Arizona.
The No. 16 Bears were simply an all-around better team than the Utes (11-10, 1-4 in the Pac-12) and the Wildcats (10-12, 0-6). On Friday, Cal (12-8, 4-1) dominated Utah with a 6-1 victory at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The next day, the Bears went on to crush Arizona, 7-0, ending their weekend with a very lopsided weekend sweep.
The Bears’ two wins this weekend also allows for Cal to be considered for an at-large berth for the upcoming NCAA Championships. Their weekend sweep also places them as the third seed in the Pac-12 tournament, just behind conference opponents No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 USC.
“Our strength was in our process — we had a good routine between points and our strategy and tactics kept us going throughout our matches,” Cal coach Peter Wright said.
On Friday, Cal entered the singles round with a 1-0 advantage after clinching the doubles point with an 8-5 win on the top court.
Although the Bears came out strong to start off singles, they had to push to win several tiebreak points on four of the six courts. Cal eventually clinched the match when sophomore Gregory Bayane served an ace on court No. 4 to widen the Bears’ lead over Utah to 4-0.
In doubles on Saturday, the Bears strategically worked their way up to the net on all three courts to gain automatic points from smashing several lobbed balls. Arizona struggled to keep up with the Bears and had difficulty returning Cal’s serves, ultimately handing the first point of the day to Cal.
In singles, Campbell Johnson swiftly took down Sumeet Shinde in the third court, with a 6-2, 6-1 win to clinch the first singles point. The next four Bears rapidly notched points after each player defeated his Arizona counterpart in two sets each.
On the top court, Thompson was the only Wildcat with a fighting chance.
Thompson showcased his strong serves, winning points through aces that McLachlan could not return. However, McLachlan eventually claimed many of his points by wearing out his opponent through long rallies.
“He was a tricky guy to play because he was a lefty and he had a pretty tough serve,” McLachlan said. “But I was able to be patient because I felt like I had a better chance of winning the point the longer it went on.”
Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at [email protected].