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.

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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.

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The last time the Bears failed to earn the NCAA Championships home court advantage was in 2010, where Cal had to travel to Los Angeles in Southern California. Although the Bears easily swept UC Irvine in the first round, they were immediately knocked out of the NCAAs by UCLA in the second round.

This Tuesday afternoon, the NCAA selection show for Division I men’s tennis revealed that the Bears will leave home for the first time in three years. No. 15 Florida will host Denver, Florida State and No. 18 Cal for the first two rounds of the NCAA Team Championships.

In the first round, the Bears will take on Florida State first, while the Gators will match off against unranked Denver.

If Cal can make it past the first round, the team will most likely battle host Florida — who it will play for the second time this year. On Feb. 16, the Bears took on then No. 11 Florida at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle, where Cal emerged as victors, 4-1.

According to Cal senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt, the Bears will have a good chance of making it past these first two rounds and advancing to the NCAA sweet 16.

“It was an interesting draw — we didn’t really know what to expect this year,” Konigsfeldt said. “But I think we definitely have a good chance. Florida is the top seed there, and we beat them earlier this season, so we know that we can beat them now.

“It’s a good draw for us.”

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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.

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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.

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But pointwise, it’s still just one of seven. To win the match, the doubles victor still needs to win three singles points.

On Saturday afternoon at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., the Cal men’s tennis team showed that losing that first point doesn’t matter as much when the team’s depth in singles can make up for the loss in doubles.

In their last dual match of the regular season, the No. 18 Bears (13-8, 5-1 in the Pac-12) dropped all three doubles matches to hand the first point over to the Cardinal (11-10, 3-4).

But Cal later made a quick turnaround in singles, clinching a 4-3 match with victories on the first four courts.

“We made some crucial mistakes early on in doubles, but luckily, that only cost us one point,” said Cal coach Peter Wright. “I was disappointed in how we lost that point, but I’m really proud of how strong we came out afterwards in singles.”

The Bears’ win over their Bay Area rivals this weekend marks the second time this year that the Bears beat Stanford. On Feb. 24, Cal similarly conquered the Cardinal in nonconference play — losing the doubles point but emerging as victors, 5-2.

The Cal squad completed its season sweep of Stanford for the first time in six years.

In doubles play on Saturday, the Bears ultimately struggled to finish with a win on all three courts. After Cal conceded the second court match, it dropped the matches on courts No. 1 and 3 within seconds of each other.

According to Wright, Cal lacked aggression at the net and continuously made errors in decision-making on the court.

“In part, it was Stanford’s good play in doubles, and in part, we let Stanford play that well,” Wright said.

However, the Bears bounced back in singles, taking control of the top half of the lineup.

On the top court, Ben McLachlan dominated John Morrissey, evening out the match score at 1-1 with his rapid two-set victory. McLachlan, who was having trouble last week taking advantage of his strong serves, showcased his dominant serving this week as Morrissey struggled to return them.

Over on court No. 6, Trey Strobel temporarily put Stanford back in the lead after he defeated freshman Wyatt Houghton in two sets.

However, the Bears swiftly took down the Cardinal on the second, third and fourth courts to claim a 4-3 road victory. On court No. 4, Gregory Bayane dropped his first set but rebounded with more consistent play in the second and third sets to clinch the fourth point.

After the match, the players attributed much of their success to members of the Cal track and field team, who competed at Stanford earlier in the day. They came out to the stands at the Taube Tennis Center to support the Bears.

“It was amazing — it was the most people we’ve ever had at a match there, and it made it seem like a home match for us,” McLachlan said. “They really made a difference for us.”

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

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So why is the top 16 so important?

At the beginning of the NCAA championships in May, the nation’s top-16 teams will have the luxury of hosting three other squads for the first two rounds of the tournament.

With one regular season dual match left in the season and the postseason looming ahead, the Bears are itching to jump back into the top 16.

Cal (12-8, 4-1 in the Pac-12) has a chance to inch its way back up the ranks Saturday at 1 p.m. when it plays its Bay Area rivals at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif. The Bears will face the Cardinal (10-9, 3-3) for the second time this year in their last regular season match.

Cal has hosted the first rounds of the NCAA the last two years and is not looking to lose its home court advantage this season.

“I have a lot of confidence in our guys,” said Cal coach Peter Wright. “We’re gelling and competing well together as a unit — but this will be a really important match for us to win.”

In the Bears’ Feb. 24 matchup with Stanford, Cal crushed the Cardinal in a 5-2 decision for its first rivalry win in three years.

At the Hellman Tennis Complex, the Bears failed to get a strong start in doubles, yielding the first point of the day to Stanford.

However, Cal made a quick turnaround in singles, notching five of the six courts in singles play to emerge as victors.

Now the Bears are hoping to complete their first season sweep of the Cardinal since 2007 — a feat Stanford has relished for the past three years.

This time around, however, Cal has a significant by-the-numbers upper hand in both singles and doubles.

The Bears, who are currently riding a four-match win streak, boast a well-rounded doubles lineup, having clinched nine doubles points in the last 10 dual matches.

Cal is led by the duo of senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt and junior Campbell Johnson on the top court.

Stanford will most likely counter on the doubles top court with its pair of sophomore John Morrissey and senior Denis Lin. Morrissey and freshman Nolan Paige are the only two ranked players on the Cardinal.

As of now, the Bears have clinched the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 tournament. If they can sweep their first and second matches in the tournament, the Bears will most likely reclaim their spot within the nation’s top 16.

But Cal will have to win its match this weekend first.

“They’re definitely playing stronger at the end of the year than at the start, and playing at Stanford will put the win in their favor,” Wright said. “We have a lot of confidence in how we’ve been playing, but both teams are trying to peak at the end of their season — it’ll be a tough match.”

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

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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 jchua@dailycal.org.

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But so do the Utah and Arizona men’s tennis teams. As of now, all three squads are battling on the brink of the .500 line, and all three need to be over .500 to have a postseason chance.

As the teams approach the end of their season, the three teams will have to fight to maintain a .500 winning percentage to be eligible for an NCAA bid.

Despite the similarity in their records for the regular season, a major difference between the Bears (10-8, 2-1 in the Pac-12) and the Utes or Wildcats lies in the difficulty of each of their respective schedules.

While Utah (11-9, 1-3) and Arizona (10-10, 0-4) have been competing against unranked teams and teams on the cusp of being ranked, Cal’s schedule has primarily consisted of top-20 squads.

This weekend, the No. 16 Bears will face what seems to be their easiest set of dual matches all year. Cal will take on the Utes at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and the Wildcats at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Playing in familiar home territory after their pair of road matches last week will give the Bears more reason to anticipate clinching victories this weekend.

“I think we’re very capable of winning,” senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt said. “We’re a good team, and we’re pretty confident right now, so coming back home to play at Berkeley will be great — especially with our home crowd there.”

By the numbers, Cal boasts a significant advantage over Utah and Arizona.

Nationally ranked juniors Ben McLachlan and Campbell Johnson lead the Bears on the top two courts in singles, and Cal’s top tandem of Konigsfeldt and Johnson competes on the top court in doubles.

The Bears will start their weekend conference play against a Utah team that, on paper, is not particularly intimidating. The Utes boast only one ranked singles player in sophomore Slim Hamza, who was selected to the All-Pac-12 second team in 2012. Hamza will likely play Johnson on court No. 2 on Friday.

The Arizona squad presents even less of a challenge for the Bears, as none of the Wildcats are ranked in either singles or doubles.

Last year, Cal crushed the Utes, emerging as 6-1 victors after a sweep of doubles and wins on five of the six singles courts. After their domination in Salt Lake City, the Bears made a quick turnaround to Tucson, Ariz., and similarly conquered the Wildcats in a 5-2 decision.

Although this year’s Bears have the advantage of playing on their home courts, there will be added pressure for Cal to bring home two conference victories in order to establish a strong record before entering the Pac-12 postseason tournament.

According to Cal coach Peter Wright, the team will look to treat the last few dual matches as must-wins as they reach the final homestretch of the season.

“Utah and Arizona are both well-coached teams, and they’re very dangerous,” Wright said. “We’re going to approach these matches with the utmost preparation because despite any other factors, our No. 1 priority is to continue to put ourselves in a position where we’re successful.”

Before the match starts on Saturday, the Bears will honor senior players Konigsfeldt and Riki McLachlan as well as team manager Moustafa Ismail for their careers and contributions to the Cal men’s tennis program.

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

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On Friday afternoon, the Bears did just that.

No. 21 Cal (10-8, 2-1 in the Pac-12) clinched both doubles points in an eventual weekend sweep against Oregon and Washington. The Bears defeated the Ducks, 4-3, at the UO Student Tennis Center in Eugene, Ore., before traveling to Seattle on Saturday to dominate the Huskies, 5-2.

The team implemented several of the techniques it focused on during the week, including improving its consistency in shot selection. The Bears specifically worked on serving and returning the ball during practice and playing aggressively closer to the net.

“The time we spent working on our doubles this past week was valuable and time well spent,” coach Peter Wright said. “Getting off to that lead gave us a big boost for our confidence going into singles.”

On Friday, the Bears took the 1-0 advantage after the Cal duo of junior Ben McLachlan and freshman Mads Engsted bested Oregon’s Daniel Sardu and Aaron Clissold, 8-3, on court No. 2.

The Bears carried their momentum into the singles round, in which they notched wins in five of the first six sets. However, the Ducks fought back to push the Bears to three sets on four courts.

It took Cal’s top players — McLachlan, Christoffer Konigsfeldt and junior Campbell Johnson — on the first three courts to get the job done.

Senior co-captain Konigsfeldt’s victory over Oregon’s Daan Maasland on court No. 3 clinched the Bears their first road-conference win of the weekend.

“We had a pretty good lead, and then we let it slip away,” Wright said. “We held on, but we had to address some issues in mental discipline on the court, and I think the guys did a great job applying that later in our Saturday match.”

Despite the squad failing to capitalize on its strong start in singles on Friday, Cal made significant improvements in doubles and singles when it battled against the Huskies (15-8, 2-2) on Saturday.

Although the Bears struggled to create separation on the scoreboard to start off the doubles round, Cal took the point once its doubles pairs knocked off their Washington counterparts on courts No. 2 and 3.

On court No. 2 in singles, Johnson swiftly took the first set over Washington’s Martin Bots, 6-2. The two rallied points back and forth during the second set until Bots could not return Johnson’s ball, hitting too far into the alleys on match point to increase Cal’s lead to 3-1.

Konigsfeldt’s win on court No. 3 once again clinched the win for the Bears. Although Konigsfeldt rapidly took the first set, the Huskies’ Max Manthou pushed the second set to a tie-breaker to force a third set. However, Konigsfeldt exploded back in the third set, capturing the win with little resistance.

On match point, Manthou managed to return Konigsfeldt’s drop shot but was forced to lob the ball high into the air. Konigsfeldt ran up to the net to smash the ball to Manthou’s left, helping Cal garner a 2-0 weekend record.

“Playing at the net is my best strategy because I can finish with volleys and overheads,” Konigsfeldt said.

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

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