Cal Opens USTA/ITA Regional Friday at Stanford

by calbears.com
Oct 16, 2014

BERKELEY – With berths to the top tournament of the fall on the line, California will compete in the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships from Friday, Oct. 17, to Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The winners of the singles and doubles tournaments automatically qualify for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships slated for Nov. 6-9 in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Please visit the regional’s website here for more information, including draws and results.

Cal won the singles and doubles titles at the regional in 2012 and 2013 (see below).

Poll Position

Cal claimed three rankings in the ITA preseason polls, with seniors Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton earning the Bears’ highest mark –No. 7 – in the doubles poll. The No. 7 ranking is the highest of any Pac-12 doubles team in the preseason. Newcomer Oskar Wikberg – a junior transfer from Wisconsin – is ranked 81st and sophomore Filip Bergevi is ranked No. 120 in the ITA singles poll.

The ITA will release its first team rankings on Jan. 6.

Scouting the Bears

  • Sophomore Andre Goransson is coming off an appearance in the singles final at the Battle in the Bay at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco; he fell to USC’s Nick Crystal, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the Oct. 12 championship match
  • Click here to read the Daily Californian’s recent feature story on Goransson and his journey from Sweden to Berkeley
  • Senior Gregory Bayane won the consolation singles title at the Battle in the Bay, beating UCLA’s Austin Rapp, 1-6, 6-4, 1-0(7), on Oct. 12
  • Junior Mads Engsted won in singles and doubles at the UCSB Classic; he topped junior teammate Hasier Pastor, 7-5, 6-7, 6-2, in singles on Oct. 12
  • In the flight B doubles final in Santa Barbara, Engsted and junior Wyatt Houghton defeated Fresno State’s Youssef Hassan/Sai Kartik Nakireddi, 8-7
  • Also at UCSB, the pair of Chase Melton and freshman J.T. Nishimura beat UCSB’s Galskov/Ziad Sultan, 8-3, for the flight A title
  • Two proud Cal alumni lead the Golden Bears: Peter Wright (class of ’91) is in his 22nd year as head coach, while associate head coach Tyler Browne (class of 2008) is in his seventh year on the staff

Last Time at the Regional: Johnson Wins Singles, Bayane/Melton Win Doubles

For the second consecutive season, California won both the singles and doubles titles at the 2013 USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Saint Mary’s to clinch automatic berths to the upcoming USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. On Oct. 22, senior Campbell Johnson captured the singles crown and the duo of Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton triumphed in the doubles final at the Gaels’ Korth Tennis Complex.

The prestigious indoor intercollegiate championships – at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in  Flushing Meadows, New York – traditionally cap the fall season.

Johnson, the singles’ second seed who is also ranked 41st in the ITA preseason poll, defeated Pacific’s ninth-seeded Sem Verbeek, 6-1, 6-4, to take the 2013 title. In the doubles final, Bayane and Melton, both juniors, topped Washington’s eighth-seeded Emmett Egger and Jeff Hawke, 8-5. That marked the fifth time in the last six years that a Cal team won the regional doubles championship.

Cal also collected the team trophy for the most number of wins at the regional, an honor that the Bears have also had five of the last six years.

In 2012, Cal’s Ben McLachlan won in singles and the pair of Ben and Riki McLachlan won the doubles title at the regional also in Moraga.

Last Time Out: Cal Tops Danes and Former Bear, 4-3

With a former Golden Bear playing for the other side, California defeated the Danish national team, 4-3, in an exhibition dual match on Oct. 13 at the Berkeley Tennis Club. Junior Oskar Wikberg clinched the overall victory when he defeated Cal alumnus Christoffer Konigsfeldt, 7-6(0), 7-6(3), on court two.

Konigsfeldt ended his college career in the 2013 NCAA doubles tournament, as he and Campbell Johnson reached the round of 32. Konigsfeldt, a three-time Pac-12 all-academic honoree, also played for his country last fall, when Cal defeated the Danes, 5-2, at the Hellman Tennis Complex.

Next Time

Before the indoor intercollegiate, Cal plays in the Gael Classic from Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in Moraga, California.