Mens Tennis V. LSU, Cal won/File

By the bay or the beach, the location doesn’t matter for the Bears. The Cal men’s tennis team wrapped up a successful weekend at both San Francisco’s Battle in the Bay and UC Santa Barbara’s UCSB Classic. Most notably, freshman Andre Goransson pulled off a 6-0, 6-2 upset of senior Campbell Johnson for the singles title in San Francisco.

Johnson, seeded No.1 in the draw, recovered from a hip injury scare earlier this week. After receiving a bye in the first round, Johnson fought off rustiness with a three-set win over Boise State’s Toby Mitchell, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. He later defeated both Stanford’s Daniel Ho and David Sofaer of Pepperdine in straight sets.

Goransson handily defeated his opponents, such as USC’s Nick Crystal and UCLA’s Joseph DiGuillo, in straight sets. To reach the finals, he edged out San Diego State’s Thorsten Bertsch, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.  His play this weekend proved to be promising for the spring season.

Other Bears advanced to the quarterfinals. Before quickly exiting 1-6, 0-6 to Santa Clara’s Ilya Osintsev, freshman Filip Bergevi knocked out fourth-seeded Nolan Paige from Stanford, 6-0, 6-2. Similarly, junior Gregory Bayane was unable to eliminate third-seeded John Lamble of Santa Clara, falling 2-6, 3-6.

Doubles play in San Francisco ended early for Cal. Both teams entered had first-round exits. In a hotly contested match, Bayane-Goransson lost to Pepperdine’s duo of Stefan Menichella-Sofaer, 7-8(3). Bergevi-Johnson fell in a very close match as well; Pacific’s Miguel Diaz and Sam Verbeek defeated the Cal duo, 8-6.

Down in Santa Barbara, the Bears reached the finals in both Flight A doubles and singles draws, in which the format allowed for four singles matches and three doubles matches.

“The format is challenging, but we really got a lot out of it,” said head coach Peter Wright. “We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.”

Junior Nikhil Jayashankar won the singles title when his opponent, UC Davis’ Alec Adamson, retired at 5-0 with a knee injury. Leading up to the finals, Jayashankar, with his physical and defensive game, fought through in tight three-setters, including an up-and-down 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 win over UC Davis’ James Wade in the semis. Sophomore Wyatt Houghton lost to Wade in the third-place match in a close three-setter, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(4). With his partner, junior Chase Melton, Houghton also lost in the doubles finals, 6-8, to Adamson-Wade of UC Davis.

In Flight B singles, sophomore Jordan Smith placed fifth after a default from UC Davis’ Mitch Thorop. On the other hand, junior Jack Sanford did not contest for the seventh-place finish due to a hip injury he picked up Saturday.

The experience from this weekend will prove to be useful when the squad competes in the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships next weekend. This tournament marks the peak of the fall season.

“Regionals are always tough with the best teams on the West Coast playing,” Wright said. “We did well here. All of our guys seem to be playing at the level that we want them. But it’s hard to predict with what we’re going to do.”

Jennifer Yu covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jyu@dailycal.org.

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Michael Tao/File

Divide and conquer. It’s the prevailing strategy for the Cal men’s tennis team this weekend as the squad disperses throughout various parts of California. Traveling as nearby as Marin County and far south as Santa Barbara, the Bears prepare to bring home a fresh set of experiences.

“We want to gain match toughness and get more prepared for the spring,” said junior Nikhil Jayashankar. “Going into each tournament, the goal is always the same, and that is to play well, implement things into your game and hopefully win a lot of matches.”

This weekend, Cal will head across the Bay for the third annual Battle of the Bay Classic, held at San Francisco’s historic California Tennis Club. The tournament will provide the best preview of the upcoming spring season as nationally ranked fellow Pac-12 teams such as USC and UCLA are slated to play. Three players — freshmen Andre Goransson and Filip Bergevi and junior Gregory Bayane — are confirmed entries, and it is still uncertain whether senior Campbell Johnson will play due to a hip injury he picked up earlier this week.

“(Johnson) is a question mark right now,” Wright said. “He’s still hurting a little bit.”

Concurrently, the other half of the team will participate in the UCSB Classic, competing against lesser-ranked teams such as Cal Poly. Historically, Cal has posted respectable results at the tournament. Bayane won singles in the Flight A draw and was a finalist with sophomore Wyatt Houghton in Flight A doubles last year.

Senior Ben McLachlan and sophomore Mads Engsted will not appear in either tournament this weekend, given their heavy schedules in the previous week. Junior Hasier Pastor will not play the entire year due to NCAA regulations.

Since the team’s results in these fall tournaments have no effect on its ITA ranking, Cal feels less competitive pressure and has welcomed each tournament weekend with eagerness.

“We want to use these matches to improve,” Jayashankar said. “Match play isn’t something you can practice. More than anything, we want to gain confidence in how we’re playing.”

But this past weekend, five players — McLachlan, Johnson, Pastor, Bayane and Bergevi — gained special experience and confidence as they attended the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger. Aimed toward providing lower-ranked professionals more match-play opportunities, the pro-circuit tournament exposed the Bears to professional-level play.

“It helps our guys get invaluable experience playing on the pro tour,” said coach Peter Wright. “A lot of the guys on our team will be playing professional tennis one day.”

While Johnson was awarded a wild card to the main draw, his four teammates battled to earn one of the four berths into the main draw.

It was the young Bergevi who walked away with the most pleasant surprise. The Swede upset sixth-seed and former UCLA star Dennis Novikov in straights during the second round of qualifying, 6-3, 7-6(5), before losing in the next round to Canadian pro Philip Bester, 6-7(4), 2-6.

“He played a very solid match from start to finish,” Wright said. “(Bergevi) got the best win of anybody on our team this fall. He’s gonna be a future star.”

Jennifer Yu covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jyu@dailycal.org.

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“There were some results we liked, some results we would’ve liked to have changed,” said assistant coach Tyler Browne.

Seeded second in the Aggie Singles flight, sophomore Mads Engsted emerged as the tournament’s finalist. Engsted lost to top-seed Robin Cambier of Oregon, 0-6, 2-6 in the final round.

But in his journey to the finals, the Dane produced impressive wins, given that this is his first tournament back since his first-round retirement in the season-opening Harvard Chowder Fest.

Engsted routed Portland’s Reid DeLaubenfels 6-2, 6-2, before posting back-to-back three-set victories. He then defeated Joey Swaysland of Oregon, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 and Santa Clara’s Ashot Khacharyan 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. To reach the final round, Engsted topped Cambier’s teammate, Robin Farin, 6-4, 7-5.

“This weekend, Mads figured something out about his game,” Browne said. “He was structuring his points very well. He was maintaining his focus and was understanding how to use his higher-percentage shots.”

None of the five other players reached as far as Engsted did.

Both junior Nikhil Jayashankar and sophomore Wyatt Houghton only made it to the round of 16. Jayashankar handily defeated Thomas Hunt of Saint Mary’s 6-3, 6-1 in the first round but proceeded to lose to Farin in a close three-setter, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. Houghton had tougher luck with his draw — he fell to Cambier, 1-6, 3-6.

“Nikhil had his opportunities. If (Jayashankar) could go back, he would change a couple of things, knowing what shots worked and what shots didn’t,” Browne said.

The two other players appeared in the Big West singles flight. Third-seed Jordan Smith only reached the second round, losing to Ryan Andrada from Nevada, 4-6, 1-6. Junior Jack Sanford engaged in a highly competitive match with Saint Mary’s Wil Martin, taking the first set tiebreaker, 7-6(5) and losing the second set 4-6. But he fizzled out in the third, falling 1-6 to Martin.

Sanford’s strong efforts earned him a slot in the consolation draw, where the same competitiveness shone through. Sanford pulled out the win against UC Davis’ Adam Luba in two tiebreakers, 7-6(4), 7-6(0). The Cal junior was unable to clinch the win in the super-tiebreaker against UC Davis’s Bryce McKelvie — the end result was a scoreline of 6-3, 5-7, 1-0(7).

Cal’s doubles play this weekend reflects the Bears’ transitioning period of finding the correct doubles teams. The pairings of junior Chase Melton and Houghton, seeded third in the Aggie doubles flight, and Sanford-Jayashankar, seeded second in the Big West doubles flight, both had first-round exits. Melton-Houghton later withdrew due to injury in the consolation rounds.

“(Doubles) is definitely an area we could’ve done better in,” said Browne, noting the team’s struggle to adjust to the windy weather conditions.

Browne and the team did not seem too affected by this weekend’s mixed bag of results. After all, preseason has little to do with the team’s championships chances and standing in the spring.

“We had a good weekend,” said Browne. “They learned something, which is our goal this weekend, and I think we accomplished that.”

Jennifer Yu covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jyu@dailycal.org.

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Seniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson earned direct entries to the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla, while six Bears, Chase Melton, Wyatt Houghton, Jack Sanford, Nikhil Jayashankar, Mads Engsted, and Jordan Smith, will compete at the UC Davis Aggie Invitational this weekend.

In Oklahoma, McLachlan and Johnson overcame their rustiness by posting strong efforts in the competitive 64-player draw.

Making his third appearance in the ITA All-American tournament, McLachlan lost in the first round, 4-6, 6-7(4), to a qualifier, North Carolina’s Ronnie Schneider.The match was hotly contested with McLachlan losing the lead within the second-set tiebreak. Starting in the second set, McLachlan appeared to have problems with his ankle, an injury that he has been recovering from since the summer.

“Ben had a tough tournament. This is his first trip since his injury,” said head coach Peter Wright. “But he’s been doing a lot better (with his ankle) than he was a month ago.”

Johnson fared better than his teammate. In the first round, he defeated Drew Lied of Michigan State 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, in a roller coaster three-set match. Johnson later lost to Vanderbilt’s Gonzales Austin, 3-6, 1-6, in the second round. Because of the windy weather, it was a quick loss for Johnson.

“It was nice to get through (the first round) and just to pull that off,” Johnson said. “(Austin) just handled the conditions better.”

Meanwhile back at Cal, the team has been preparing for the upcoming weekend’s Aggie Invitational, held at UC Davis. In its second year of participation, the team will send six players to the tournament, as freshmen Andre Goransso and Filip Bergevi, and junior Gregory Bayane will sit out.

The six players will appear in the singles draw, and Cal also has two doubles teams in the mix. The pairs of Melton/Houghton and Sanford/Jayashankar will play as part of the pre-season’s experimental nature.

Though Melton and Houghton have only played one match together and the lineups will not be finalized until January, their win at the Harvard Chowder Fest seemed to make them a promising pairing.

The Aggie Invitational is another installment of the team’s six event pre-season. This weekend’s downsized lineup at this tournament reflects the coaches’ philosophy on pre-season skill-building.

“As coaches, we’re not too concerned with results. More importantly for us, it’s about how they’re progressing as players,” assistant coach Tyler Browne said. “(The invitational is) a chance for our guys to learn the new skills they’ve been learning in practice and using them in a tournament.”

As Cal continues participating in its assortment of tournaments, its ultimate goal this fall is to peak at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships.

“The regionals are what we’re gearing up to. We’ve done well there in the past,” Browne said. “We’ve won the team award for the past few years, so that’s something the guys like to hold onto.”

Jennifer Yu covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jyu@dailycal.org.

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Michael Ball/Staff

It has only been a month since the tennis season started, but the Cal’s men’s tennis team is already in full swing with its long preseason. Centered on individual results, the preseason will reach its peak at the upcoming ITA Championships tournament circuit.

“Preseason gets us ready at the level we want to be,” said junior Nikhil Jayashankar. “We see where we are and where we need improvement.”

Starting Thursday, two of the Bears will head to Tulsa, Okla. to compete in the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships. Seniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson have earned direct entries into the main draw, forgoing the arduous process of prequalifying and qualifying this prestigious tournament requires.

“(They’re) both in the main draw, so that’s exciting,” said coach Peter Wright. “This tournament is considered to be one of the grand slams of college tennis.”

This is the first appearance for Johnson and the third for McLachlan. McLachlan qualified to the tournament at his first appearance and was seeded 14th last year. Both appearances resulted in first-round losses.

“The last two times, I lost first round. I’m hoping to do much better than that,” said McLachlan. “I’ve grown as a player since the last two years, so I feel like I will be able to learn from those lessons.”

McLachlan and Johnson’s participation in the All-American tournament is met with a cautionary eye. Since the beginning of the season, McLachlan and Johnson have both been sidelined with injuries. Sharing similar schedules, they have not played many matches, sitting out on the Harvard Chowder Fest and the Napa Valley Tennis Tournament. So far this season, the two have only played with the team against the USTA junior team.

But earlier this past week, both McLachlan and Campbell have been training well and have been deemed “ready to play,” according to Wright.

“We want them to have a healthy tournament,” said Wright. “A healthy tournament is a happy week for us.”

With their lack of match play, McLachlan and Johnson are facing stiff competition. The ITA All-American offers all singles quarterfinalists automatic berths to November’s USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

“You do well at this tournament, you can consider yourself as one of the best,” Johnson said.

Despite all the buzz surrounding this year’s tournament, for coach Wright, keeping the players happy and healthy is his main priority.

Given their current rankings and physical health, McLachlan and Johnson echo each other’s sentiments that the ITA All-American Championships is just another tournament for them. The focus and the team’s goals all lie in the spring season, where dual matches against other Pac-12 teams take place.

“Obviously I want to do well, and if I lose, it’s a little bit of a bummer,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, I want to focus on the season and do the best we can do as a team. Individually, (this tournament) is a big deal, but then again, it’s not the end of the world.”

Jennifer Yu covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jyu@dailycal.org.

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Michael Ball/File

For the Cal men’s tennis team, attending the Audi Napa Valley Tennis Tournament in St. Helena, Calif. is tradition. So is winning. As harvest season approaches in wine country, the Bears themselves sowed the seeds for a successful preseason this past weekend.

“It was a high-level tournament,” said junior Greg Bayane. “It was good to compete against the juniors and some of the top players.”

Co-founded by Cal head coach Peter Wright, the 13th annual installment of the Napa Valley Tennis Tournament is a small-scale tournament of 32 players. In the draw were 24 collegiate players and eight members of the USTA Junior National Team. The addition of top-notch junior players to the tournament was part of USTA’s push to use the NCAA as a path to professional play.

“It’s exciting for the juniors to have an opportunity to play up,” said Wright. “It’s important for us to show that development.”

Many of the teams had a handful of their own top-50 players and doubles pairings. Texas A&M led with four ITA-ranked singles players and two top-10 doubles teams.

Cal was without top-ranked seniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson, who both have been out since the season-opening Harvard Chowder Fest due to injury.

Despite the absence, junior Nikhil Jayashankar led Cal with a perfect 3-0 record in his round-robin group. Over the tournament’s three days of play, Jayashankar posted straight-set wins over high school sophomore Lane Leschly (6-4, 6-4) and Boise State’s Nathan Sereke (6-3, 6-0), a match that included a four-and-a-half-hour rain delay.

Jayashankar began his campaign with a tight 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Texas A&M’s Jordan Szabo on Friday. Jayashankar’s efforts earned him a slot in the shoot-out, a first-to-10 tie-breaker format. The shoot-out offered a wild-card entry to Solinco — a USTA futures pro circuit event — as the tournament’s grand prize. But Jayashankar lost in the quarterfinals against Florida State’s 56th-ranked Dominic Cotrone, 9-11.

“The shoot-out was high-quality,” said Jayashankar. “We both did well, but it came down to one or two shots that made the difference,”

San Diego’s sophomore Uros Petronijevic eventually clinched the wild-card entry, topping Alabama’s Daniil Proskura, 10-8, in the final round.

But Jayashankar’s teammates produced a mixed bag of results.

Freshman Andre Goransson had a record of 2-1, losing against Florida State’s 116th-ranked Benjamin Lock, the eventual Group 3 champion, 6-7(4), 3-6. Both first-year Filip Bergevi and Bayane fared with less success, only winning one match in their respective groups.

In doubles play, neither the Bayane-Jayashankar nor the Bergevi-Goransson duo advanced past the first round.

For the Bears, the Napa Valley Classic is part of the long four-month preseason largely dedicated to building the team, especially with two freshmen recruits.

“Preseason is for freshmen getting to know more about their game and how they respond in situations,” said Wright.

Jennifer Yu covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jyu@dailycal.org.

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Kay Yang/File

Considering that the Cal men’s tennis team started its season plagued with injuries, the squad’s No. 17 overall finish is pretty impressive.

So it’s no surprise that the squad made The Daily Californian’s list of the top 10 Cal sports teams ranked at No. 8.

I mean, they were good — but not great. In terms of rankings, the Bears have been hovering around the ‘–teens’ for the past few years. Last season, Cal completed the year at No. 13 and at No. 14 the year before that. And both times, the Bears concluded their run at the NCAAs in the round of 16.

They stagnated again this year with a similar Sweet 16 loss for the third year in a row. Could the Bears have performed better without all those initial injuries? Maybe.

Probably.

But that being said, we will never know if the Bears’ early loss of their co-captain senior Riki McLachlan to injury hindered them from a top-10 finish — a goal that seemed realistic enough at the beginning of the season.

Although lacking in individual star power, the Cal squad found strength in its depth, starting its regular dual-match season with three straight wins.

However, the Bears were swept by No. 5 USC in their fourth dual match of the year, after McLachlan suffered a knee injury during doubles play.

One week later, Cal lost more players to temporary injuries, which basically meant more time needed in the training room recovering and less time on the court.

But despite the several health issues, the team managed to produce a commendable season — demonstrating potential as a top-10 team with victories over some of the nation’s top squads.

Cal took down then-No. 11 Florida with a 4-1 win in February, and the Bears later topped No. 7 Duke in a monumental 4-3 upset for their first defeat over a top-10 team in March.

The Bears also conquered their Bay Area rival Stanford twice this season — the first time Cal has swept the Cardinal in six years.

Pretty good for a team that was struggling to battle back injury in the middle of the season.

And with the squad not changing too much next year, the Bears look like they will have at least one more shot at their top-10 goal.

They will be losing graduating seniors McLachlan and Christoffer Konigsfeldt — a constant force on the No. 2 court in singles and on the top court in doubles.

Although Konigsfeldt’s absence will create a hole near the top of the lineup, rising senior Campbell Johnson will most likely take his place in the No. 2 spot, and younger players Gregory Bayane and Mads Engsted will step up to take over higher courts.

The Bears will also be gaining two new freshmen recruits in Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson — both top juniors who hail from Sweden.

With the retention of a well-rounded team from last year and the addition of two more talented players, Cal looks like it can create another impressive season in 2014, provided it is not bitten by the injury bug once again.

Maybe next year, the Bears will finally break that elite top-10 barrier.

Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Anthony Martinez/File

The Cal men’s tennis team compiled a season full of what-ifs and could-have-beens.

What if the Bears hadn’t lost senior co-captain Riki McLachlan at the beginning of the year to a nearly season-ending knee injury?

What if they weren’t forced to produce three different doubles tandems to make up for McLachlan’s absence on the top doubles court?

Could the No. 17 Bears have finished the season within the nation’s top 10 and made a much longer run at the NCAA team championships?

But rather than continue their season overshadowed by the many what-ifs, the Bears (16-10) rolled with their injury-plagued start to the year and produced a season that ended similarly to their previous one — with a round-of-16 loss to second-seeded Virginia at the NCAAs.

At the beginning of the season, Cal coach Peter Wright, along with several players on the Cal team, claimed that the Bears had a surefire shot at a top-10 NCAA finish.

If their performance at the start of the year was any indication of how their season would turn out, their top-10 goal did not seem too lofty or far off.

Cal began its regular dual match season with three straight wins, including a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over No. 20 Michigan during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in January.

But in just their fourth dual match of the year, the Bears were swept by No. 5 USC — victors of the NCAAs in four of the last five years — after McLachlan was injured during the doubles round. Prior to McLachlan’s injury, Riki McLachlan and his younger brother, Ben, competed on the top court in doubles, forming the No. 7 doubles pair in the nation.

The Bears subsequently lost to No. 2 UCLA the next day, 6-1, after the team had to reorganize its doubles pairings and singles lineup to make up for McLachlan’s absence.

“(Losing Riki) put all of us under a little more stress,” Wright said. “It put a little additional responsibility on all of the guys. They had to live with it day in and day out, so it was tough losing Riki.”

But from Cal’s restructuring of its doubles duos, the Bears formed two ranked doubles pairs, led by senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt and junior Campbell Johnson on the top court. Cal’s deep doubles lineup, which proved to be one of the Cal’s greatest weapons throughout the season, led the Bears to amass 13 doubles point victories out of their last 16 dual matches.

Last year, the Bears maintained a relatively consistent season, topping all their opponents who ended their season with lower national rankings but failing to conquer top-10 teams to move up the ranks.

However, this year, Cal showed spurts of top-10 potential, starting with a 4-1 win over then-No. 11 Florida at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February. The Bears later downed then-No. 4 Duke in a monumental 4-3 upset for their first defeat over a top-10 team three weeks later in March.

This year, Cal took down their Bay area rivals Stanford in a season sweep for the first time in six years.

Although the Bears did not host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, they traveled to Gainesville, Fla., and conquered both Florida State and Denver in 4-1 wins to secure their spot in the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row.

After losing a key player to start off the season, the Bears garnered several brief successes but ultimately finished the year similar to their 2012 season. The Cal team ended its postseason with a 4-0 loss to the Cavaliers — this year’s NCAA championship winners.

“If you look at the teams in the country who’ve reached the final 16 in the last three years, it’s only been five programs,” Wright said. “With all the challenges we’ve had this year, I’m incredibly proud of how the guys came together as a team and fought each match.”

Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Michael Tao/File

The Cal men’s tennis team failed to take home even one win from the NCAA singles and doubles championships this past week.

But the Bears did not leave Urbana, Ill., feeling discouraged.

With Cal’s season now over, the Bears are left instead with a bittersweet feeling. Although Cal concluded its year with a short run at the NCAA individual tournaments, the Bears battled their injury-ridden season with an overall respectable run at the NCAAs.

“It’s a terrible feeling once the season’s over, but I think our guys left it out on the courts this whole time in Illinois,” said Cal coach Peter Wright. “It’s incredibly gratifying as to how we finished the year.”

Juniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson kicked off play in the NCAA singles championship last Wednesday at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex at the Atkins Tennis Center.

McLachlan went head-to-head against Ohio State’s No. 12 Blaz Rola, while Johnson took on Oklahoma’s Guillermo Alcorta.

Rola swiftly notched the first set against McLachlan, 6-2, and the two battled back and forth during the second set before a thunderstorm forced a rain delay for all outdoor matches.

McLachlan was serving at 3-1 when the officials moved his match indoors, but the Cal junior from New Zealand ultimately fell in a tough second-set tiebreaker, 7-6(4), to yield the match to Rola.

Johnson was down three games in the middle of his first set when the rain delay stopped his match. However he eventually fell, also in two sets, to Alcorta in the round of 64.

“It was pretty windy outside today, which made conditions harder for both of us,” McLachlan said. “I thought the quality of the match was pretty good. I wasn’t disappointed with my match. I had my chances.”

In the first round of the NCAA doubles tournament on Thursday, Cal’s top doubles duo of Johnson and senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt battled the sixth-ranked tandem in the country — Auburn’s Daniel Cochran and Andreas Mies.

The two teams could not break the opponent’s serve to start off the match. However, in the fourth game, the Bears got broken when Cochran and Mies found opportunities to smash lobbed balls and hit wide shots that Cal’s Johnson and Konigsfeldt could not return.

The Bears broke back and were able to notch three consecutive games, but Cal was once again broken and ultimately lost the first set, 5-7.

In the second set, the Bears had trouble keeping up with the strategic Auburn duo, which found ways to throw shots in areas Cal could not reach. The Bears eventually fell when Konigsfeldt returned Auburn’s serve into the net on match point, 1-6.

“It was a tough match but a good experience,” Konigsfeldt said. “They played well.”

Although none of the three Bears who competed in the NCAA singles and doubles tournaments could bring home a win, Wright is proud of the way his team ended the season — with a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 and individual championships.

“Our time in Illinois, our trip to Florida — the guys even had to take their final exams while they were here — they’ve faced a lot of adversity, but I’m proud of how they handled not only the NCAA championships but this entire season,” Wright said.

Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Michael Ball/File

The top three players on the Cal men’s tennis team will join the ranks of the nation’s best at the NCAA championships this week.

The Bears will send two singles players — juniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson — and one doubles tandem — the Cal pair of Johnson and senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt — to compete at the NCAA tournament, which runs from May 22 to 27.

At the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill., McLachlan and Johnson will kick off play on Wednesday in the NCAA singles championship.

Johnson, who usually plays on the third court in singles, will take on Oklahoma’s Guillermo Alcorta at 9:30 a.m. in the round of 64. Both players bring winning streaks into the competition and will look to extend their singles victories to advance to the round of 32.

While Alcorta has notched his last four singles matches, Johnson (28-12) claimed his last two after topping Florida State’s Jordan Kelly-Houston and Denver’s Max Krammer in two sets each in the NCAA team tournament. Johnson recently earned the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year award in addition to the Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year award he received with Konigsfeldt.

At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, McLachlan (19-17) will battle Ohio State sophomore Blaz Rola, the No. 12 singles player in the country, for their second meeting this year.

On Feb. 15 at the ITA National Indoor Championships, the two faced off on the top court, where Rola easily took down McLachlan in the first set with a 6-3 win. However, McLachlan suffered a locked knee near the start of the second set and was eventually forced to retire when he was down 4-2 before finishing the set.

The Buckeye sophomore from Slovenia will present McLachlan with a challenge in singles, as Rola has only posted one loss in his 33 matches so far this year.

In the first round of the NCAA doubles tournament on Thursday, Cal’s top doubles duo of Johnson and Konigsfeldt will compete against Auburn’s sixth-ranked pair of Daniel Cochran and Andreas Mies. Johnson and Konigsfeldt, who are one match above a .500 winning percentage, will look to end a three-match losing streak they collected after recently falling in three close losses at the NCAA team tournament.

Last year, Cal was similarly represented by two singles players and one doubles pair. Then-sophomore McLachlan and former senior Nick Andrews both fell in the first round of the singles tournament, taking Cal quickly out of the singles bracket.

The Bears fared better in doubles with their top tandem of Konigsfeldt and Andrews, who were the sixth-ranked pair in the country at the time. They advanced to the round of 16 before falling, 6-3, 6-1, to their No. 18 Texas Tech counterpart.

After the Bears’ recent loss to Virginia — the winners of the NCAA team championships — in the Sweet 16 round, the Cal squad is simply looking to extend its postseason run as long as it can.

“It’s just been an amazing season, so I’m more focused on that — just how much of a wonderful season we’ve had,” said Cal coach Peter Wright after the Virginia match. “We’re excited and just looking forward to the individual tournament.”

Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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