The Cal men’s tennis team experienced a dose of deja vu this past week at the NCAAs.
The Bears ended their NCAA team championship run the same way they ended it last year — with a Sweet 16 loss to Virginia.
At the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill., the No. 3 Cavaliers swiftly swept Cal, 4-0, to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. While the Bears completed their season on Thursday with a respectable 16-10 record, the Virginia squad extended their perfect season record to 27-0.
The match was called once the Cavs clinched their fourth and final point. The Bears had trouble keeping up with the physicality of the Virginia squad and ultimately could not post even one point on the scoreboard.
“Virginia showed us today why they are an undefeated team,” said Cal coach Peter Wright.
However, the Cal team that played against Virginia last year was not the same team that battled the Cavs this past week.
Last season, Cal barely had a chance against the aggressive Virginia team. The Cavs rapidly took the Bears down in doubles after winning 8-3 on the first and third courts. They then moved on into the singles round, taking the first-set lead across all six courts until they stifled the Bears on courts two, three and five.
But this year, despite finishing the match at 4-0, No. 18 Cal displayed some resistance both in the doubles and singles rounds.
The No. 21 Virginia duo of Alex Domijan and Mitchell Frank took down Cal’s Mads Engsted and Ben McLachlan on court No. 2, 8-5, to start off the day in doubles. But the Cal pair of Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton conquered its Cavalier counterpart on court No. 3, 8-6, to tie the doubles round.
The Cavs ultimately took the first point once Virginia’s Jarmere Jenkins and Mac Styslinger, the No. 4 doubles team in the nation, won 8-4 on the top court.
“At No. 3, we played really well, and we were close at No. 1 and 2 all the way through,” Wright said. “The doubles point has been one of the biggest parts of the match for us, so losing it was definitely a challenge.”
Last year, the Cavaliers utterly dominated the Bears in singles, only yielding one set to Cal.
This year, the Virginia team similarly took down three Bears in singles to clinch the match. Cal senior co-captain Riki McLachlan — who returned from suffering a severe knee injury in
February — fell to Julen Uriguen on court No. 6 to yield Virginia’s second point. Konigsfeldt and Bayane later followed, dropping two sets each to hand the Cavs the 4-0 win.
But in this year’s matchup, freshman Engsted nabbed his first set and was up a break in his second set, 3-1, before the match was called. On the top court, No. 3 Jenkins took down Ben McLachlan in the first set, but McLachlan fired back to take the second set.
“The score is a testament to how strong that Virginia team is,” Wright said. “But our guys played with a lot of heart today, and I’m just so proud of the guys and how they competed.”
Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at [email protected].