No. 10 Cal Advances To NCAA Second Round

BERKELEY – Valentina Ivanov won in straight sets on a balmy Friday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex to clinch the California women's tennis team's 4-0 victory over Sacramento State in the first round of the NCAA Championship. The 10th-seeded and 10th-ranked Golden Bears advanced to play 17th-ranked Auburn in Saturday's second round.
 
Cal's record improved to 19-6 while the Hornets ended their day with a 20-8 record.
 
Earlier Friday, the Tigers blanked 37th-ranked BYU 4-0 in the other first-round match at Hellman.
 
Ivanov also did well in doubles against Sac State, with the senior pairing with Berta Passola Folch on court one to defeat Weronika Ejsmont and Best Lee 6-1 to start the first-round clash. Jessica Alsola and Lan Mi followed with a 6-4, court-three win over Mayya Gorbunova and Lou Baudouin to clinch the doubles point for the Bears.
 
Cal increased the pressure in singles, taking all six first sets. Passola Folch gave Cal a 2-0 lead when she bested Lee 6-0, 6-2 on court five, and the 44th-ranked Hannah Viller Moeller quickly followed with a 6-0, 6-0 trouncing of Baudouin on court two to make the score 3-0.
 
Ivanov, ranked 43rd, sent the Hornets packing when she topped Gorbunova 6-0, 6-4 on court one.
 
"I had a really good start and was doing everything I needed to do to win the majority of my points, and I was really happy with that," Ivanov said.
 
"It's great to be hosting here at Hellman, so I'm proud of the team for creating that opportunity for themselves," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "Some different people had an opportunity to compete today, and they did a good job. We raised our level after the doubles. We hadn't won a doubles point in our last couple matches, and that made us even more confident going into the singles. We're looking forward to the next round tomorrow. We know our opponents have had a good season, too, so we'll just rest up and get ready for it."
 
Friday's warm, sunny weather belied the forecast for Saturday, when rain is likely for the first half of the day. The NCAA second-round match between Cal and Auburn is slated for a noon PT start, so please check CalBears.com and @CalWomensTennis on Twitter for updates Saturday.

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