Cal Heads to National Indoor Intercollegiate
BERKELEY – California caps the fall season when three Golden Bears – senior Campbell Johnson and juniors Chase Melton and Gregory Bayane – play in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships slated to run from Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 7-10, at the USTA Billie Jean National King Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
Johnson will compete in the singles bracket in New York, while the duo of Bayane and Melton will compete in doubles at national indoors. Ranked 41st in the ITA preseason singles poll, Johnson will take on Columbia’s Max Schnur in the opening round of 32. Melton and Bayane earned a first-round bye in the doubles opening round of 32 and will play Illinois’ fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked team of Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski in the round of 16.
As the only tournament on the ITA calendar to showcase elite players from every level of college tennis, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships serves as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia University, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women.
The men’s singles field showcases six of the top 10 players from the ITA Division I Men’s Preseason Rankings among those competing for the ITA’s final national title of the fall. Twenty-one colleges and universities will be represented in the 32-player singles draw.
The Cal players qualified for the prestigious tournament by winning titles at the recent USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Moraga, Calif. Johnson won the singles championship, while Bayane and Melton paired to capture the doubles crown at Saint Mary’s.
Last season, former Bear Riki McLachlan and current senior Ben McLachlan, his brother, represented Cal at the national indoor intercollegiate. The McLachlans reached the doubles quarterfinals, and Ben McLachlan advanced to the singles round of 16.
Live scoring from the event will be available here. For more information on this season’s indoor intercollegiate event, please visit the tournament’s webpage on the Columbia site here or on the ITA site here.