No. 17 Cal Edges No. 3 UCLA 4-3

BERKELEY - Jada Bui clinched her first victory as a Golden Bear to lead No. 17 Cal to 4-3 victory over No. 3 UCLA on Saturday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Cal women's tennis freshman defeated Bruin senior Abi Altick, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3, at court-four singles to wrap up the nonconference win.

Cal improved its record to 5-1 – including 4-0 at home – while UCLA moved to 5-2.
 
The Bears' lone blemish this season was a 4-0 loss at UCLA in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, and since then Cal has won four straight, including Saturday's result. While Bui played doubles in that first meeting, she didn't play singles. She made her mark against the Bruins in the rematch.
 
But first Cal made some noise in doubles. While UCLA took the court-two match, Cal rebounded on court one, with the Bears' 40th-ranked pair of Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov upsetting the top-ranked duo of Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart, 6-4. That left court three to decide the doubles point, and it came down to a tiebreak. In the end, Cal's Erin Richardson and Julia Rosenqvist held off Altick and Taylor Johnson, 7-6(6).
 
"Getting the doubles point today was huge, and we know that's the case whenever we play another top team," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "That set the tone. We knew we were really going to have to fight. UCLA competes hard, they're well-coached, and they did really well at national indoors. We knew even though we won the doubles point, we had to keep battling."
 
The Bruins bounced back themselves in singles, winning on courts one and two to take a 2-1 lead over the Bears. Cal freshman Hannah Viller Moeller then knocked off Annette Goulak, 6-3, 7-5, on court four, before UCLA again won, this time on court six, to take a 3-2 lead.
 
Over on court three, Cal's 26th-ranked Ivanov won a three-setter, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, over Vivian Wolff to tie the contest at 3-3 and set up Bui to settle the match.
 
"We had two freshmen out there in singles, and they both won their matches," Augustus said. "Jada clinched the match, which is fantastic. One of the really special experiences is that 3-all match, especially when it's in the third set, and she was playing a senior out there today. Those situations are really special and are going to help the team going forward. Our goal is that any player who's in that situation feels confident in herself and step up and play her game, and Jada did a really good job of that. I'm just really, really proud of the way everybody, whether they won or lost their match, fought really hard. I'm just really happy to see the Bears come away with the victory today."
 
Cal returns to Hellman for another nonconference dual match on Sunday at 12 p.m., when the Bears host UC Santa Barbara.
 
No. 17 Cal (5-1) defeated No. 3 UCLA (5-2), 4-3
Feb. 20, 2021, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
 
Doubles
1. No. 40 Haley Giavara/Valentina Ivanov (Cal) def. No. 1 Elysia Bolton/Jada Hart (UCLA), 6-4
2. Annette Goulak/Vivian Wolff (UCLA) def. Anna Bright/Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal), 6-2
3. Erin Richardson/Julia Rosenqvist (Cal) def. Abi Altick/Taylor Johnson (UCLA), 7-6(6)*
 
Order of Finish – 2, 1, 3*
*Clinched the doubles point
 
Singles
1. No. 7 Abbey Forbes (UCLA) def. No. 18 Haley Giavara (Cal), 6-2, 6-0
2. No. 19 Jada Hart (UCLA) def. No. 43 Julia Rosenqvist (Cal), 6-4, 6-2
3. No. 26 Valentina Ivanov (Cal) def. Vivian Wolff (UCLA), 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
4. Jada Bui (Cal) def. Abi Altick (UCLA), 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3^
5. Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal) def. Annette Goulak (UCLA), 6-3, 7-5
6. No. 113 Sasha Vagramov (UCLA) def. Anna Bright (Cal), 7-6(6), 6-1
 
Order of Finish – 1, 2, 5, 6, 3, 4^
^Clinched overall match