Valentina Ivanov

Despite fighting in a tough battle against the USD Toreros, the Bears lost 4-1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament 4-1.

The Bears head to Austin, Texas for the first round of nationals to face San Diego on Friday after finishing out their season with a barely-winning 12-9 record.

The loss was an upset on the part of USC, as the Bears were seeded higher going into the tournament and were last year’s regular season champions.

Cal, last year’s regular season conference champion, will face the winner of Wednesday’s matchup of the No. 7-seeded Oregon Ducks and No. 10-seeded Colorado Buffs on Thursday to kick off the postseason.

Though Cal had beaten Stanford two consecutive times, this time, the Cardinal took home the win, avenging their previous losses with a dominant performance that resulted in a final 6-1 score.

Winning two matches in a row on Friday and Saturday, the Bears have risen in the national and conference rankings, allowing them to be well-positioned as postseason play rapidly approaches.

Although Cal lost the doubles point against Oregon, it came back with ferocity, winning all six singles lines and posting a victory of 6-1.

With three days of back-to-back games, the Bears defeated both Arizona State and Arizona this weekend before falling short to Loyola Marymount.

Despite splitting another pair of Pac-12 weekend matches, the Bears looked confident in LA this weekend. Beating UCLA 5-2 and narrowly losing out to USC 4-3, the Bears seem to be righting the ship.

After a rain-enforced break, Cal women’s tennis is set to come back to the court this weekend, facing two more Pac-12 opponents in USC and UCLA. Cal’s season has been riddled with rain delays and rescheduling, making it hard to get on-court time to prepare for tough matches.