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.

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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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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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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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It is imperative that the Bears win their next two matches against Oregon and Washington to qualify for the NCAA tournament held in May.

If it doesn’t sweep the weekend, Cal (8-8, 0-1 in the Pac-12) will have to win the rest of its three remaining matches during the regular season in order to receive its postseason bid. If the No. 21 Bears miss the NCAAs this year, they will miss the NCAAs for the first time since 1998.

After losing three of its last four matches to top-16 teams, Cal will have a chance to redeem itself this weekend at the Pacific Northwest against the lesser-ranked Ducks (14-3, 1-1) on Friday afternoon and then the Huskies (15-6, 2-0) 24 hours later.

This weekend, Bears will face off against relatively easier competition than they have the past few weeks. However, there will be added pressure to win.

“I do think we’ve got a good shot of getting to the NCAAs this year,” Cal coach Peter Wright said. “But these two road matches will be really crucial to our success.”

By the numbers, Cal boasts a significant advantage over both the Oregon and Washington squads.

The Bears feature three ranked singles players and three ranked doubles duos. Junior Ben McLachlan and senior co-captain Christoffer Konigsfeldt lead the Bears in singles play on the top two courts respectively.

When McLachlan arrives at Quillian Tennis Stadium at Seattle, he will face senior Kyle McMorrow, the No. 21 singles player in the nation and Washington’s sole ranked singles player. Named to the 2012 All-Pac-12 First Team, McMorrow plays on the top court in singles and doubles, and he currently stands with a 16-3 singles record.

Spearheaded by McMorrow, the Huskies pose a tougher challenge than it seems on paper.

“You don’t see it in the rankings, but it’s going to be a challenge up and down the lineup,” Wright said. “Neither of the two teams have many weak spots.”

According to Wright, the Bears’ major focus going into this weekend’s conference matches is to improve in doubles play.

Last weekend, Cal appeared to be evenly matched with UCLA’s doubles duos at the start of doubles play. However, the Bears failed to capitalize on opportunities at the net and eventually lost in all three courts to yield the point to the Bruins.

The UCLA game was enough to alarm Wright about Cal’s doubles play.

“We had a few chances to make it interesting, but losing that doubles point set us back,” Wright said. “That’s not the kind of team that we need to be successful.”

Wright plans on tackling the issue this week during practice, when the Bears’ point of focus will be on improving their serve returns and playing more aggressively closer to the net.

By shifting their attention specifically to weaknesses in doubles, the Bears look to cushion their postseason hopes before the regular season comes to an end.

“There’s no doubt that both of these matches will be tough,” Wright said. “We’ve been preparing ourselves mentally and physically this week to take on that challenge.”

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

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On Feb. 9, the Bears took on UCLA for the first time this year down at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. After losing senior co-captain Riki McLachlan to injury the day before, the Cal squad scrambled to switch around its doubles pairings to produce a completely different doubles lineup.

Without any practice together, the Cal duos yielded the doubles point to UCLA, giving the Bruins a 1-0 advantage. In singles, UCLA swiftly notched the next three points in two sets each to clinch a quick 6-1 victory over the Bears.

This past Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex, No. 15 Cal once again dropped a match to No. 4 UCLA, 5-2.

However this time, the Bears (8-8, 0-1 in the Pac-12) fought to keep up with the Bruins (15-1,

1-0), pushing to notch points on the scoreboard during the almost four-hour long match.

Junior Ben McLachlan and sophomore Gregory Bayane pulled the Bears out of a 3-0 deficit in the singles round to keep Cal within 3-2 of UCLA, but the Bruins clinched a win on the last court to garner their 5-2 victory.

“We’re a better team than we were a month ago, and I’m encouraged by how we competed today,” Cal coach Peter Wright said.

In doubles, the Bears and the Bruins appeared to be evenly matched on all three courts.

Because neither team could break the other’s serve, the points went back-and-forth until the Cal pair of Bayane and junior Chase Melton fell to UCLA’s Dennis Mkrtchian and Alex Brigham, 8-4, on the third court.

Although the Bruins took the first win, the doubles point was still up in the air. The Bears led 6-5 on the top court, while the score was tied at 6-6 one court over.

However, after the Bruins pair of Marcos Giron and Dennis Novikov broke senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt’s serve on the top court, the Cal duo of Konigsfeldt and Campbell Johnson could not break back on match point.

The Bruins eventually clinched the doubles point, bringing a 1-0 advantage into the singles round.

In singles, UCLA garnered two more points right off the bat to push its lead to 3-0.

Bayane put the Bears on the scoreboard with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Mkrtchian on court four. McLachlan followed suit on the top court after clinching a close second-set tiebreaker over No. 14 Giron to bring the score to 3-2.

The Cal squad eventually lost to UCLA when Karue Sell defeated Melton in two sets on the sixth court. But the level of play was of an entirely different caliber from when the Bears first took on the Bruins last month.

After Cal’s narrow loss to UCLA, the squad was set to compete in its second Pac-12 conference match against No. 2 USC on Sunday, but the dual match was cancelled due to the rain.

“We had plenty of chances today, and there are definitely a couple of things we can do better,” Wright said. “UCLA is one of the teams that will be in the conversation for a national championship, and today we took some small steps toward our goal of being in that conversation.”

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

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