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.

The post Power Rankings: No. 8 men’s tennis appeared first on The Daily Californian.

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.

The post Despite falling short of top-10 goal, Cal men’s tennis team happy with season appeared first on The Daily Californian.

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.

The post Cal men’s tennis team fails to secure any wins in NCAA individual tournaments appeared first on The Daily Californian.

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.

The post Cal men’s tennis prepares for NCAA individual championships appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Kay Yang/File

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 jchua@dailycal.org.

The post Cal men’s tennis swept by Virginia in Sweet 16 rematch appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Ball/Staff

The Cal men’s tennis team finds itself in an all-too-familiar situation to start off the NCAA round of 16.

Just like last May, the Bears had just clinched their NCAA round-of-32 match to secure their position in the Sweet 16 rankings. The Cal squad topped both Florida State and Denver this past weekend in 4-1 wins to secure its Sweet 16 position for the third straight year.

And coincidentally, just like last May, the Bears will attempt to overcome No. 3 Virginia to extend their run at the NCAA team championships.

This Thursday at 10 a.m., Cal (16-9) will battle the second-seeded Cavaliers for the second consecutive year at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill.

If last year was any indication of how the No. 18 Bears will do against the Cavaliers, this match may very well be the Bears’ last.

In 2012, the nationally elite Virginia team swiftly swept Cal in a 4-0 domination to advance to the semifinals of the NCAAs. The Cavaliers only allowed the Bears a one-set win in singles before they stifled the Cal team in the doubles round and across all six courts in singles.

If last year’s matchup isn’t enough of an indication, the Cavs are riding on a winning streak that hasn’t been broken since the start of their season. The Virginia team boasts an impressive

26-0 season record so far this year after recently dominating Minnesota and Farleigh Dickinson last weekend in rapid 4-0 sweeps.

Virginia’s pristine season record is reinforced by the depth of the Cavalier squad. Their doubles and singles lineup teem with ranked players up and down the courts, spearheaded by No. 3 Jarmere Jenkins and No. 2 Alex Domijan in singles. The team boasts four other nationally ranked singles players along with three ranked doubles pairs. The first and last time the Cavaliers dropped the doubles point was back in February, when Virginia still rallied to take home a 4-3 win against Ohio State.

Although the strength of the individual players on the Virginia squad has not changed, one major difference between this year and last year is Cal’s familiarity with the Cavalier team. In 2012, the Bears battled Virginia for the first time in program history.

This year, according to Cal coach Peter Wright, Cal will have a slight edge just by the fact that the Bears will not be blindsided by the Cavaliers’ strength on the court.

“We’ve played Virginia in the Sweet 16 last year, so we know what to expect,” Wright said. “They’re a strong team, but we’re a bunch of believers, and we start preparing tonight for how we’re going to play them.”

The Bears recognize that they will certainly be the underdog in their Sweet-16 matchup. But having won eight of their last nine matches, the Bears will strive to carry their momentum into one of their biggest matches of the year.

“I think they’re probably the best team in the country, being undefeated this whole season,” said senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt. “But I think we’re peaking more now than we have been the whole season, so hopefully, we can shake them.”

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

The post Cal men’s tennis rematches Virgina in Sweet 16 matchup appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Ball/File

No matter what situation this weekend threw at the Cal men’s tennis team, the Bears managed to handle it.

And they handled it well.

For the third year in a row, the Bears clinched their round-of-32 match to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16.

But for the first time in three years, the Cal squad was not anticipating its second-round matchup. No. 18 Cal had to pull its difficult 4-1 win over the lowest seed in its bracket — unranked Denver.

In the first round of the NCAA team championships on Friday, the Bears crushed Florida State, 4-1, to advance to the second round of the NCAAs in Gainesville, Fla.

After seizing the doubles point with wins on courts No. 2 and 3, Cal quickly took down three Seminoles to emerge as 4-1 victors. Although the Bears conquered Florida in two sets each in singles, the Seminoles did not fall without first displaying some resistance.

“Florida State kept fighting, and it was hot and humid,” said Cal coach Peter Wright. “Luckily, we were able to get to four in time, but it was a hard-fought match.”

After taking down Florida State, the Bears were wholly anticipating a rematch against No. 15 Florida, the top seed in the bracket, for the round-of-32s. They defeated the Gators earlier this season — on Feb. 16 — with a 4-1 win at the ITA National Indoor Championships held in Seattle.

But the unranked Denver team unexpectedly pulled a narrow 4-3 upset of the Gators and advanced to the second round with the Bears. After losing the doubles point and trailing 3-1 in singles, the Pioneers managed to stun Florida in the round-of-64.

Denver was the only team across the country to upset a ranked squad in the first round of the tournament.

“That was quite unexpected,” Wright said. “Denver played with a tremendous amount of heart and energy, and quite frankly, that heart and energy carried over into our match today.”

In doubles on Saturday, the Pioneers fiercely battled against the Bears, fighting back despite trailing on all three courts to start the doubles round. Denver eventually took the first-point advantage after the Pioneer pair of Enej Bonin and Jens Vorkefeld topped Cal’s Christoffer Konigsfeldt and Campbell Johnson on the top court, 8-6. According to Wright, the Bears failed to play aggressively at the net and ultimately handed the first point over to Denver.

“They outplayed us in the doubles point, and that was surprising to all of us because they lost the doubles point fairly easily to Florida the day before,” Wright said. “We were being a little tentative and passive.”

In singles, the Bears and Pioneers exchanged a few games before getting rained out and having to move to indoor courts. The rain delays, however, gave the Bears time to recuperate and shift the momentum in their favor.

Once Cal initiated play inside, the team found its rhythm and notched four straight points across courts two, three, four and five.

“We took advantage of that small amount of time and came out firing after that rain delay,” Wright said. “We were a different team from doubles, coming out and taking initiative — playing the Cal style of tennis.”

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

The post Despite unexpected opponent, Cal men’s tennis advances in NCAAs appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Ball/File

The Cal men’s tennis team seems to have Lady Luck on its side this year.

Out of all the first- and second-round brackets the Bears could have been placed in for the NCAA team championships, the Cal squad was selected to compete in a bracket where it had already defeated the top seed, No. 15 Florida, earlier this season.

On Feb. 16, the Bears battled then-No. 11 Florida at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle. After notching the first point with a swift win in doubles, Cal dominated the upper half of the lineup to eventually clinch a 4-1 victory over the Gators.

This weekend, Florida will host Denver, Florida State and the No. 18 Bears (14-9) at the Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla.

In the first round of the tournament on Friday, the Bears will take on Florida State while the Gators battle unranked Denver at 10 a.m.

If Cal can surpass the first round, it will compete against the victor of the Florida-Denver matchup on Saturday. And with Denver boasting only one ranked singles player in senior Enej Bonin, the Bears will most likely take on the top-seeded Gators for the second time this year.

“I think we definitely have a good chance,” said senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt. “We beat (Florida) earlier this season, so we know that we can beat them now — I’m pretty happy with the draw.”

Cal cannot look forward to exploiting its bracket luck in a second meeting with Florida until the squad defeats an underrated Florida State team, however.

The Cal squad holds a significant by-the-numbers advantage over the Seminoles.

The Bears feature three ranked singles players, led by junior Ben McLachlan on the top court. The team also boasts three ranked doubles duos, spearheaded by the Cal pair of Konigsfeldt and junior Campbell Johnson on court No. 1.

But according to Cal coach Peter Wright, topping Florida State will not be an easy task for the Bears. Despite their dearth in ranked players, the Seminoles have claimed several come-from-behind victories this year, including two upsets over nationally ranked top-25 teams.

On March 1, the Seminoles conquered No. 21 Texas for the first time in their program’s history. Two weeks later, Florida State defeated No. 14 Oklahoma in a close 4-3 victory.

“Florida State is a very gritty team — their guys fight really hard and they’re tough,” Wright said. “We’ve seen them in action at some tournaments, and I think they might be a little underrated in terms of what their ranking is.”

If the Bears can make it past these first two rounds, they will progress to the NCAA round of 16 for the third year in a row. But advancing to the sweet 16 has never been a simple feat for the Bears.

Just take the past two years, when Cal pulled two 4-3 clutch victories to advance to the round of 16. Although the Bears got lucky in their bracket selection this postseason, breezing through the first and second rounds has never been an option for the Bears — and that won’t change this year.

“They’re going to be really tough matches for us for sure,” Konigsfeldt said. “But then again, it’s the NCAA tournament. Nothing is easy.”

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

The post Cal men’s tennis faces Florida State in NCAA tournament appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Ball/File

The Cal men’s tennis team was on fire in the past few weeks.

The Bears had not lost a dual match in a month, and they entered the Pac-12 Championships riding a five-game win streak.

But Cal couldn’t hold on to its winning streak forever.

As expected, the third-seeded Bears kicked off their postseason this Thursday with a rapid sweep of No. 6 seed Utah, 5-0, in Ojai, Calif.

But second-seeded and No. 5 USC snapped the No. 18 Bears’ six-game win streak the next day with a 4-1 domination of Cal, ending the Bears’ run at the Pac-12 Tournament.

Although Cal’s NCAA seeding will not be finalized until Tuesday afternoon, Cal’s loss to USC (23-3) most likely eliminated any chances the Bears had of hosting the starting rounds of the NCAA Team Championships.

The Cal squad (14-9) already qualified for the NCAAs earlier this season after solidifying a winning percentage greater than .500. But only the top 16 squads in the nation will have a home court advantage for the first and second rounds of the NCAAs.

“It was a tough way to finish off the Pac-12 Championships,” said Cal coach Peter Wright.

After the Bears overtook the Utes (14-12) in doubles on Thursday, Utah fiercely battled back to start off the singles round, taking an early lead in the first set on the first four courts. However, Cal did not let up in singles play, eventually clinching the match with Chase Melton’s two-set win on court No. 6.

According to Wright, the Bears improved in doubles play from Thursday to Friday, playing more aggressively at the net and making better decisions in shot selection. On court No. 3 on Friday, Cal and USC exchanged broken serves back and forth until the Cal duo consisting of sophomores Gregory Bayane and Melton managed to clinch an 8-6 victory.

“We were able to hold serve when it mattered towards the end,” Melton said.

The Bears ultimately seized the doubles point when Cal pair Christoffer Konigsfeldt and Campbell Johnson clinched a tough tiebreaker against USC’s Ray Sarmiento and Yannick Hanfmann, 9-8(7), on the top court.

But the singles round was an entirely different ball game.

The Bears’ one-point lead was short-lived, as the Trojans quickly displayed their dominance by notching four of the first six sets.

Hanfmann rapidly took down Konigsfeldt with his two-set victory on court No. 2.

Over on court No. 4, Bayane struggled to hold serve during break points and missed opportunities to break Trojan Eric Johnson’s serve, eventually conceding USC’s second point, 6-4, 6-4.

“I missed a lot of break points, which made a huge difference,” Bayane said. “It was kind of a bummer; he didn’t really win (the points) — I just gave them to him.”

On court No. 3, Campbell Johnson fought a back-and-forth battle with USC’s Roberto Quiroz until Johnson suffered from a locked knee in the middle of his first set. Johnson later struggled to keep up with Quiroz, eventually yielding the match in two sets, 7-6(7), 6-2, to give the Trojans the 4-1 win.

“Overall, we worked in every match in singles, but we got outplayed in some key situations,” Wright said. “It was tough to end that way, but we’re in a good frame of mind right now, and we’re feeling pretty good about the direction the season’s headed.”

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

The post Six-game win streak for Cal men’s tennis snapped at Pac-12s appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Ball/File

The Cal men’s tennis team has one last chance this week to jump back into the nation’s top 16. But its chance may be riding on a hypothetical matchup in the semifinals against No. 4 USC.

This week, from April 25 to 28, the No. 18 Bears will compete at the Pac-12 Tournament in Ojai, Calif. The conference tournament consists of a double-bye format, with the top two seeds receiving automatic bids to the semifinal rounds.

As the No. 3 seed, the Bears (13-8, 5-1 in the Pac-12) received a first-round bye to the quarterfinals and will kick off their weekend on Thursday at 2 p.m.

In the second round, the Cal squad will play the winners of the Wednesday matchup between Oregon and Utah — the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds, respectively.

The Bears already crushed both the Ducks (16-7) and the Utes (12-11) earlier this season. After winning the doubles point against Oregon, Cal went on to notch three more points in singles with its domination of the top half of the lineup on April 5. The Bears had an even easier time defeating Utah on April 12, swiftly taking the first four points to clinch their 6-1 victory.

Even if the Bears can clinch their first match in the Pac-12 Tournament, they may be stopped in their tracks during the semifinals. There, the Bears will take on second-seeded USC — the four-time defending NCAA champion. It is the only team to have swept the Bears this season.

If Cal manages to make its way back into the top 16, it will have the opportunity to host three other squads for the first two rounds of the NCAA Team Championships.

Then, the Bears will be able to kick off the NCAAs with a definite home-court advantage — a luxury the team has held on to for the past two years.

“The Pac-12 Tournament has significant value for all the teams playing because the matches still count towards your ranking,” said Cal coach Peter Wright.

But interestingly for the Bears, winning the Pac-12 Championships is not as crucial as clinching their first two matches in the tournament.

In 2012, the Pac-12 conference changed the tournament format to make the competition team-based instead of having the singles and doubles players compete individually. The team that wins all four rounds of the championship tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships held in May.

But the Bears already clinched their berth to the NCAAs when they won their match against Utah on April 12. After crushing the Utes in a 6-1 victory, the Cal squad solidified a greater than .500 winning percentage, rendering it eligible for the NCAAs.

Because the Bears already have their bid, their main focus this week will be to clinch their first two matches at the tournament to solidify getting in the top 16.

And with the Bears currently riding a five-game win streak into the Pac-12 Championships, Wright is confident that the Bears’ momentum will help them reach their goal.

“I’m excited for our prospects,” Wright said. “We want to make it a nice long weekend.”

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

The post Cal men’s tennis set for Pac-12 Tournament appeared first on The Daily Californian.