Cal Tops SJSU To Advance To NCAA Second Round
BERKELEY – Thirteenth-ranked and 16th-seeded California women's tennis toppled San Jose State, 4-0, in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the Hellman Tennis Complex to reach Saturday's second-round match against Kentucky. The Wildcats defeated Syracuse, 4-3, earlier in the first round on Friday at Hellman.
Hannah Viller Moeller clinched the win over the Spartans with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lara Marco Mas at court-four singles.
Pac-12 champion Cal improved to 18-6 and handed Mountain West champion San Jose State (15-2) just its second loss of the season.
"We're really excited to host these first two rounds, and we're always happy to play at Hellman," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "We haven't seen San Jose State for a while, and I thought they competed very hard. They had a great season, so we knew we had to be ready to go today. We came out nice and aggressive in the doubles like I hoped. We did a really good job of also carrying that momentum in to the singles, and we're always happy to finish a match like that where we got it done efficiently. We had to be really aggressive in the singles as well, because San Jose State had some pretty good competitors out there."
In doubles, the Cal pair of Viller Moeller and Anna Bright raced out to a 6-0 win over Tamara Culibrk and Irena Muradyan on court two. The Bears clinched the point when Jada Bui and Erin Richardson prevailed 6-3 over Raquel Villan Pereira and Rozalina Youseva on court three.
Prior to the first-round contest, the Bears honored Bright, Cal's ironwoman who was set to play in her 73rd-straight dual match, with an impromptu ceremony and a bouquet of flowers.
Bright soon made news again when she won the first singles match, beating Villan Pereira on court six, 6-2, 6-1, to give Cal a 2-0 lead over the Spartans. Valentin Ivanov, playing on court two, posted another 6-2, 6-1 win over the SJSU's Youseva to make the score 3-0. Viller Moeller then notched her fourth clinching win of her freshman season to send Cal to the next round.
"It's always fun to clinch a match, and it's fun to play at home again," Viller Moeller said.
"It was so exciting, because we worked hard to ensure that we could play this match at home by really coming through in the Pac-12 tournament," Bright said. "Super happy to get the win today at home, and one last dance tomorrow."
The Golden Bears and Wildcats will play at 1 p.m. on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the round of 16 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
In the first-round match between Kentucky and Syracuse, the Wildcats won the doubles point and took the first singles match to take a 2-0 lead. But the Orange won three times in quick succession to take a 3-2 lead. Kentucky's Carla Girbau then beat Zeynep Erman, 6-4, 6-3, to tie matters at 3-3, and Fiona Arrese bested Syracuse's Polina Kozyreva, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, on court six to decide the first-round victor.
NCAA First Round
[16] No. 13 California (18-6) defeated San Jose State (15-2) 4-0
May 7, 2021, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. Julia Rosenqvist/Valentina Ivanov (Cal) vs. Alba Pedrero Galindo/Lara Marco Mas (SJS) 5-3 Unfinished
2. Anna Bright/Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal) def. Tamara Culibrk/Irena Muradyan (SJS), 6-0
3. Jada Bui/Erin Richardson (Cal) def. Raquel Villan Pereira/Rozalina Youseva (SJS), 6-3*
Order of Finish - 2, 3*
*Clinched the doubles point
Singles
1. Julia Rosenqvist (Cal) vs. Alba Pedrero Galindo (SJSU), 6-3, 5-6 Unfinished
2. Valentina Ivanov (Cal) def. Rozalina Youseva (SJSU), 6-2, 6-1
3. Jada Bui (Cal) vs. Irena Muradyan (SJSU), 0-6, 6-6 Unfinished
4. Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal) def. Lara Marco Mas (SJSU), 6-1, 6-3^
5. Anna Bright (Cal) def. Raquel Villan Pereira (SJSU), 6-2, 6-1
6. Cami Brown (Cal) vs. Jovana Babic (SJSU), 7-6(3), 1-0 Unfinished
Order of Finish – 5, 2, 4^
^Clinched the overall win
NCAA First Round
Kentucky (16-8) defeated Syracuse (8-12), 4-3
May 7, 2021, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. No. 38 Viktoriya Kanapatskaya/Natalie Novotna (Syracuse) def. No. 1 Akville Parazinskaite/Fiona Arrese (Kentucky), 6-3
2. Ana Tkachenko/Carla Girbau (Kentucky) def. Polina Kozyreva/Sofya Trescheva (Syracuse), 6-2
3. Lesedi Jacobs/Elizabeth Stevens (Kentucky) def. No. 78 Miranda Ramirez/Guzal Yusupova (Syracuse), 6-4*
Order of Finish - 2, 1, 3*
* Clinched the doubles point
Singles
1. No. 11 Viktoriya Kanapatskaya (Syracuse) def. No. 28 Akville Parazinskaite (Kentucky), 7-5, 6-3
2. No. 115 Lesedi Jacobs (Kentucky) def. Guzal Yusupova (Syracuse), 6-3, 6-3
3. Natalia Novotna (Syracuse) def. Carlota Molina (Kentucky), 6-1, 7-6(3)
4. Miranda Ramirez (Syracuse) def. Elizabeth Stevens (Kentucky), 7-6(1), 6-2
5. Carla Girbau (Kentucky) def. Zeynep Erman (Syracuse), 6-4, 6-3
6. Fiona Arrese (Kentucky) def. Polina Kozyreva (Syracuse), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4^
Order of Finish - 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 6^
^Clinched the overall win