Bears Celebrate Win, Hellman Grand Reopening
BERKELEY - On a Saturday when Cal celebrated the grand reopening of a renovated Hellman Tennis Complex, the 15th-ranked Golden Bears came from behind to defeat 21st-ranked Mississippi State, 4-2. The victory sent Cal to the ITA National Men’s Indoor Championships slated for next month in Chicago.
The match, though, was just the warm-up for a late-afternoon ceremony that attracted alumni, donors, campus officials and a host of fans that filled the facility, which now features elevated seating for courts one to six among other improvements.
“We had great energy with the new seats next to court six,” said senior Gregory Bayane, whose win at No. 6 singles secured Cal’s victory. “The energy comes to you, and it’s such a great feeling. It helped me to clinch that match. We had such great energy from the fans and the players; it was amazing.”
Men’s head coach Peter Wright was among the speakers, who included lead donor and Cal tennis alumnus Kent Newmark – for whom (along with wife Pat) court one is named – and donor and Cal tennis alumna Stacy Savides Sullivan, for whom court four is named. Director of Athletics Mike Williams, Vice Chancellor John Wilton, women’s head coach Amanda Augustus, and student-athletes Chase Melton and Zsofi Susanyi also spoke to the assembled crowd.
“This is such a thrill for me and Pat to be here and be a part of this,” Newmark said. “This tennis committee headed by Barry Baskin just did an unbelievable job in putting this whole thing together.”
Features at Hellman now include the new seating, team locker rooms, public restrooms, a team room that can be used for meetings and academic study, and new banners to a legacy wall commemorating Cal’s conference, national and postgraduate on-court success.
“I do really have to thank our development office for putting together a campaign that enabled us to be successful,” Wright said, “because it’s such a challenge in this environment to do what we managed to accomplish. Our development office did a phenomenal job."
Wright also acknowledged Wilton for his work with campus Capital Projects and thanked Newmark and Savides Sullivan for their support of the Cal tennis programs.
“I just so appreciate the fact that I have the opportunity to give back,” Savides Sullivan added. “I couldn’t be happier for Cal, and I love Peter and Amanda to pieces.”
As for the match prior to the ceremony, the Bears trailed the Bulldogs 1-0 and 2-1 before storming back for the win.
Mississippi State had taken a 1-0 lead when the Bulldogs won twice in doubles, with Cal sophomore Filip Bergevi and junior Mads Engsted falling, 7-5, to Robin Haden and Julian Cash in the decisive match on court three (Mascarin Court).
Cal rebounded quickly in singles, winning five out of six first sets. The Bears tied the overall match at 1-1 when freshman J.T. Nishimura dominated Mate Cutura on court four (Savides Sullivan Court), 6-0, 6-2. But the Bulldogs retook the lead when Juan Cruz Estevarena beat freshman Billy Griffith, 6-1, 6-1, on Mascarin Court.
While an entertaining match took place on court one (Newmark Stadium Court) between the 106th-ranked Goransson and MSU’s Florian Lakat, the 93rd-ranked Bergevi beat No. 63 Tassilo Schmidt, 6-3, 6-2, court two (Bud Chandler Court) and junior Oskar Wikberg defeated Rishab Agarwal, 7-5, 6-4, on court five (Hirschler-Davidson Court).
But the court one match was abandoned when Bayane – a senior, who did not get to complete his doubles match with partner Chase Melton – beat Robin Haden, 6-4, 7-6(4), on court six (Walter A. Haas, Jr. Court).
As the crowd of alums, donors and other friends of the program later toured the men’s and women’s locker rooms or took to the Hellman courts on which Bayane clinched today’s match, the veteran Bear added, “Peter and his team did an amazing job of getting the renovations done. I couldn’t dream of something better than this for my last year.”
Earlier Saturday, Harvard beat N.C. State, 4-3, in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend consolation match at Hellman.
ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Final
No. 15 Cal (4-0) defeated No. 21 Mississippi State (3-1) – 4-2
Jan. 24, 2015, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. No. 42 Gregory Bayane/Chase Melton (Cal) vs. Florian Lakat/Juan Cruz Estevarena (MSU) – Abandoned
2. Mate Cutura/Tassilo Schmid (MSU) def. No. 40 Andre Goransson/Oskar Wikberg (Cal) – 6-2
3. Robin Haden/Julian Cash (MSU) def. Filip Bergevi/Mads Engsted (Cal) – 7-5
Mississippi State captured the doubles point
Order of Finish: 2, 3*.
*Clinched the double point
Singles
1. No. 106 Andre Goransson (Cal) vs. Florian Lakat (MSU) – Abandoned
2. No. 93 Filip Bergevi (Cal) def. No. 63 Tassilo Schmid (MSU) – 6-3, 6-2
3. Juan Cruz Estevarena (MSU) def. Billy Griffith (Cal) – 6-1, 6-1
4. J.T. Nishimura (Cal) def. Mate Cutura (MSU) – 6-0, 6-2
5. Oskar Wikberg (Cal) def. Rishab Agarwal (MSU) – 7-5, 6-4
6. Gregory Bayane (Cal) def. Robin Haden (MSU) – 6-4, 7-6(4)
Order of Finish: 4, 3, 2, 5, 6^.
^Clinched the overall match.
Consolation Match
No. 30 Harvard (3-1) defeated No. 27 N.C. State (3-2) – 4-3
Jan. 24, 2015, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. No. 19 Robbie Mudge/Ian Dempster (N.C. State) def. No. 7 Denis Nguyen/Brian Yeung (Harvard) 7-6(3)
2. Sebastian Beltrame/Nicky Hu (Harvard) def. Simon Norenius/Austin Powell (N.C. State) – 7-6(6)
3. Alex Steinroeder/Grant Solomon (Harvard) def. Thomas Weigel/Nick Horton (N.C. State) – 6-4
Harvard captured the doubles point
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2*.
*Clinched the double point
Singles
1. No. 51 Austin Powell (N.C. State) def. No. 57 Denise Nguyen (Harvard) – 3-6, 6-3, 6-0
2. Robbie Mudge (N.C. State) def. Nicky Hu (Harvard) – 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3
3. Sebastian Beltrame (Harvard) def. No. 39 Nick Horton (N.C. State) – 6-4, 6-3
4 Alex Steinroeder (Harvard) def. Beck Bond (N.C. State) – 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5
5. Simon Norenius (N.C. State) def. Brian Yeung (Harvard) – 7-6(4), 6-0
6. Kenny Tao (Harvard) def. Thomas Weigel (N.C. State) – 7-6(5), 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 5, 6, 1, 2, 4^.
^Clinched the overall match