For the eighth year in a row, the Cal women’s tennis team will be hosting matches for the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships.
On Tuesday, the selection show for the NCAAs revealed No. 8 Cal would be hosting Stony Brook, Auburn, and Saint Mary’s. The Bears will take on Stony Brook on May 10 at 10 a.m. at Hellman Tennis Complex. The winners of the Cal/Stony Brook and Auburn/St. Mary’s matches will battle each other in the second round the next day.
The team, however, is more concerned with the later stages of the tournament.
Due to the way the seeding worked out, Cal will not face another Pac-12 school until at least the semifinals — should it make it that far. The Bears could face either USC, Stanford, or Arizona State in those semifinals or could see UCLA in the championship.
Only those four Pac-12 teams made the tournament.
“I was a little disappointed to not see more of our conference teams selected,” said Cal coach Amanda Augustus. “Normally we have 7 or so. I think we play good tennis out here.”
Augustus attributes the lack of west coast teams to rules by the NCAA that reward teams for playing easy schedules and therefore amassing impressive records.
“Hopefully they’ll revisit some of these new rules like the .500 rule that I think rewarded teams for going around and playing an easier schedule and scheduling a lot of matches,” Augustus said.
The Pac-12, a tough conference for tennis, doesn’t get the benefit of easy matches. This has resulted in lower seeds for the Pac-12 schools, with USC the highest at No. 5.
But the benefit is that the Pac-12 schools are better prepared for the tough competition.
“I think that’s why our schools always do well in the postseason — because we play tough matches against each other,” Augustus said. “I think it will show by the end of the tournament how strong the 5 teams are that did get selected.”
Meanwhile, the players are not thinking that deeply about the structure of the tournament. They’re just happy to be at home for two consecutive weeks to finish up school before travelling to Chicago for the later rounds of the NCAAs.
“Honestly right now, I’m just thinking about school and finishing up the finals and everything,” Anett Schutting said. “Then I can just focus on tennis.”
Riley McAtee covers women’s tennis. Contact him at [email protected]