No. 9 Cal Starts Dual-Match Season In SoCal

BERKELEY – The ninth-ranked California women's tennis team begins the dual-match season on Friday at 1:30 p.m. at UC Santa Barbara and then travels to Malibu to take on No. 2 Pepperdine on Saturday at a new start time of 2 p.m.

The two matches are also the season openers for the Gauchos and the Waves.

Fans can follow Friday's match at UCSB using the live stream by clicking here, keep track of Saturday's match in Malibu via the live stream and live scores here, and follow the Golden Bears on Twitter at @CalWomensTennis for match updates.

Scouting the Bears

• Cal won its first Pac-12 team championship last season, when the Golden Bears compiled a 19-7 record
• The Bears reached the round of 16 in the 2021 NCAA team tournament
• Haley Giavara competed in both the 2021 NCAA singles and (with Valentina Ivanov) NCAA doubles tournaments
• Ivanov is ranked 108th in the most recent ITA singles poll
• Jessica Alsola, a freshman, is ranked 110th in singles
• Alsola is also ranked seventh in the ITA Newcomers poll
• The pair of Alsola and Erin Richardson – which reached the round of 16 in the ITA National Fall Championships in November – is ranked 27th
• Former two-time NCAA doubles champion Amanda Augustus – the 2021 Pac-12 Coach of the Year and ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year – is in her 15th year as head coach at her alma mater
• Associate head coach Zack Warren – the 2021 ITA Northwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year – is in his eighth year on the staff, which includes former Cal star Maegan Manasse as the Bears' volunteer assistant coach

Scouting the Gauchos

• The 2021 Big West champion, UCSB finished last season with a 13-4 record
• One of UCSB's four losses was a 6-1 result against Cal on Feb. 21 in Berkeley
• The Gauchos lost to Stanford, 4-0, in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament
• Shaknoza Khatamova, now a senior, was the 2021 Big West Player of the Year
• Camille Kiss was the 2021 Big West Freshman of the Year
• UCSB last competed this season in the Stanford Invitational in November
• Simon Thibodeaux – the 2021 Big West Coach of the Year – is in his 10th season as UCSB's head coach

Scouting the Waves

• The 2021 NCAA team runner-up, Pepperdine had a 25-4 record last season
• Last season, the Waves beat Cal twice in the regular season – 6-1 in Malibu and 4-3 in Berkeley
• Six Waves are currently ranked in singles: No. 10 Lisa Zaar, No. 18 Taisiya Pachkaleva, No. 30 Victoria Flores, No. 31 Shiori Fukuda, No. 36 Savannah Broadus and No. 93 Janice Tjen
• Two Pepperdine pairs are ranked in doubles: No. 11 Flores/Zaar and No. 17 Flores/Tjen
• Fukuda won the singles title in the Waves' most recent competition, the Freeman Memorial Championship at UNLV
• Pers Nilsson is in his eighth season as Pepperdine's head coach

Last Time: Bears Commanding In Winter Invite
Cal concluded the Cal Winter Invitational on Sunday, with the Golden Bears winning nine of 10 matches and the Cal pair of Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov capturing the doubles title. Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's claimed the singles title.

Cal went 2-0 in doubles on Sunday, as Hannah Viller Moeller and Katja Wiersholm defeated Santa Clara's JennaMarie Gordon and Finley Kalinic, 8-1, and Julia Rosenqvist and Makenna Thiel beat the Broncos' Katherine Petty and Lindsey Pesqueira, 8-4.

Seven of eight Bears won in singles, including senior Julia Rosenqvist, who beat the Gaels' Jocelyn Massey, 6-2, 6-1, Hannah Viller Moeller, who knocked off Gabriela Tevez of Saint Mary's, 6-1, 6-1, and Thiel, who ousted the Gaels' Olivia Rook, 6-2, 6-4. Ivanov ended the day at Hellman with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over the Gaels' Jordan Harris.

Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalWomensTennis), Instagram (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (@CalWomensTennis).

Next Time
Cal hosts the ITA Kickoff Weekend from Jan. 28-29 at the Hellman Tennis Complex, with Vanderbilt, San Diego and BYU joining the Bears in Berkeley.