16th-Seeded Cal Battles No. 1 UNC Sunday

BERKELEY – The 16th-seeded California women's tennis team faces top-seeded North Carolina in the NCAA Championship round of 16 on Sunday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The 13th-ranked Golden Bears bring a 19-6 record into the match with top-ranked UNC, which has a 28-0 record.
 
Cal is coming off a pair of victories at the Hellman Tennis Complex, with the Bears blanking San Jose State, 4-0, in the NCAA first round on May 7 and then defeating 26th-ranked Kentucky, 4-2, on May 8 in the second round to advance to Orlando (see below).
 
Fans can watch Cal's round of 16 match against UNC for free using the TennisONE app, with live scores for the match available by clicking here. Match updates will also be available on Twitter @CalWomensTennis.
 
Giavara & Ivanov Set For NCAA Individual Championships
Two Golden Bears – Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov – claimed berths in the NCAA individual championships that will also take place in Orlando. Giavara (12-11 record) will compete in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship and will partner with Ivanov (13-6) to play in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship.
 
The NCAA individual tournaments will start on May 23, after the end of the team tournament on May 22, and conclude on May 28.

Cal Wins Pac-12 Championship
Cal captured its first Pac-12 tournament championship on April 26 when Julia Rosenqvist clinched a 4-2 victory over top-seeded UCLA in San Diego. The third-seeded Golden Bears, who took home the 2014 conference title prior to the inception of the Pac-12 tournament, also earned the Pac-12's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
 
Rosenqvist, a senior, defeated Elysia Bolton, 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-1, at court-three singles to secure the win and snap the Bruins' 11-match winning streak. The win also gave the Bears a 2-2 split in the season series between the teams.
 
After UCLA won the doubles point, Cal bounced back in a big way in singles. On court one, Haley Giavara, ranked 62nd, faced a familiar opponent in the eighth-ranked Abbey Forbes, who had beaten the sophomore in all three of the teams' previous meetings this year. The Bruin also took a 3-0 lead in the first set. But Giavara clawed her way back to win the set. She later used a powerful forehand to close out the match, 6-4, 6-2, and tie the final, 1-1.
 
Cal senior Anna Bright followed with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Annette Goulak on court six to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. But UCLA's Vivian Wolff soon topped Bui on court four to tie the contest, 2-2. The Bears grabbed the lead back at 3-2 when freshman Hannah Viller Moeller beat Sasha Vagramov, 6-2, 6-3, on court five and set up Rosenqvist to wrap up the match.
 
Poll Position
Cal remained at No. 13 in the Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 and came in at No. 17 in the Oracle ITA computerized rankings last week. Cal sophomore Haley Giavara, an All-American as a freshman, is ranked 31st in the Oracle ITA singles poll. The final Oracle ITA team rankings will come out on May 26, with the final singles and doubles rankings slated for a June 2 release. The last Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 of the season will be released after the conclusion of the NCAA team tournament.
 
Scouting Cal

• The Bears' doubles pair of Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov have twice defeated teams ranked No. 1 this season. First, the duo beat UCLA's Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart, 6-4, on Feb. 20, and then the Bears bested Kentucky's Akvile Parazinskaite and Fiona Arrese, 7-6(6), in Cal's NCAA second-round win over the Wildcats.
• Senior Julia Rosenqvist has a 14-8 singles record.
• Ivanov is 11-8 in singles.
• First-year Bear Jada Bui has a 11-6 singles mark.
• Freshman Hannah Viller Moeller has gone 16-7 in singles.
• Senior Anna Bright, who has lost just once in each of the last three months, is 20-3 in singles.
• The court-two doubles tandem of Viller Moeller and Bright is 13-6.
• Cal's court-three duo of Bui and Erin Richardson is 3-3.
• Former two-time NCAA doubles champion Amanda Augustus – the 2016 ITA National Coach of the Year and 2014 Pac-12 Coach of the Year – is in her 14th season as head coach at her alma mater.

Scouting North Carolina

• Earlier in the NCAA tournament, UNC defeated South Carolina State, 4-0, in the first round and beat Old Dominion, 4-0, in the second round.
• North Carolina won its fifth consecutive ACC championship, beating Georgia Tech, 4-1, in the April 25 conference final.
• Sara Daavetila was named the 2021 ACC Player of the Year.
• Eight Tar Heels are ranked in singles in No. 2 Daavetila, No. 27 Cameron Morra, No. 32 Makenna Jones, No. 36 Fiona Crawley, No. 41 Alexa Graham, No. 97 Elizabeth Scotty, No. 110 Anika Yarlagadda and No. 117 Reilly Tran.
• Seven UNC pairs are ranked in doubles in No. 2 Daavetila and Morra, No. 4 Jones and Scotty, No. 34 Tran and Alle Sanford, No. 43 Morra and Scotty, No. 45 Scotty and Sanford, No. 55 Daavetila and Graham, and No. 81 Tran and Kacie Harvey.
• Brian Kalbas, he 2021 ACC Coach of the Year and a two-time ITA National Coach of the Year, is in his 18th year as head coach of UNC.

2019 NCAA Tournament Review
In the last NCAA team tournament in 2019, Cal reached the round of 32 after beating Long Beach State in the opening round of 64. Anna Bright beat Lalita Devarakonda, 6-3, 7-5, to clinch the win at court-four singles. After securing the doubles point, Cal also got singles victories from Julia Rosenqvist, Olivia Hauger and Maria Smith.
 
Cal lost to Pepperdine, 4-0, in the second round.
 
In the NCAA singles tournament, Julia Rosenqvist won her opener to advance but fell in the round of 32. Olivia Hauger, now Cal's volunteer assistant coach, lost in the round of 64 in her last collegiate match.
 
Rosenqvist also paired with Hana Mraz in the NCAA Doubles Championship, with the Bears falling in the round of 32.
 
Giavara Named March 23 Pac-12 Player Of The Week
Haley Giavara earned the Pac-12 Player of the Week honor on March 23 after the Cal star led the Bears to a sweep of Arizona and No. 25 Arizona State in Berkeley.
 
This marked the first career weekly conference accolade for the San Diego product. It is also Cal's second Pac-12 honor of 2021, with Valentina Ivanov claiming the award on Feb. 23.
 
In Cal's 7-0 rout of the Wildcats on March 19, the 18th-ranked Giavara defeated Jelena Lukic, 7-5, 7-6(5), at court-one singles. Earlier, the 40th-ranked pair of Giavara and Ivanov beat Lukic and Khim Iglupas, 6-2, to help the Bears claim the doubles point.
 
On March 20, Giavara bested ASU's 37th-ranked Ilze Hattingh, 6-3, 6-2, as Cal cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Sun Devils.