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No. 12 Cal Plays At No. 30 ASU, No. 44 Arizona

by calbears.com
Mar 31, 2022
Haley Giavara and the Bears hope to remain undefeated in the Pac-12 this week in the desert.

BERKELEY – For the first time in more than a month, the 12th-ranked California women's tennis team will hit the road, with the Golden Bears playing Pac-12 matches at No. 30 Arizona State on Friday at 1:30 p.m. MST/PDT and at No. 44 Arizona at 12 p.m. MST/PDT on Saturday.
 
Cal, which has won five straight dual matches, has an 11-5 overall record and is 4-0 in the Pac-12 Conference. ASU is 9-6 (1-4 Pac-12), while Arizona is 14-6 (2-3 Pac-12) prior to a Friday contest against Stanford.
 
Fans can follow the ASU live stream by clicking here and Friday's live scores here. The links for the Arizona live streams/scores are here. Fans can also follow updates of Cal matches at @CalWomensTennis.
 
Last Time: Cal Beats No. 5 Pepperdine In Berkeley
Julia Rosenqvist clinched a big victory on Tuesday at the Hellman Tennis Complex, as the then-14th-ranked Bears edged No. 5 Pepperdine, 4-3. The win gave the Golden Bears two wins out of three matches with the Waves this season.
 
Rosenqvist and Erin Richardson gave Cal early momentum when they beat Taisiya Pachaleva and Anastasia Iamachkine, 6-2, at court-three doubles. The Bears' 35th-ranked Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov followed with a 6-4 win over the 16th-ranked Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen on court two to give Cal the doubles point.
 
In singles, Rosenqvist played a tough three-setter on court three. But the senior prevailed, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4, over Pepperdine's 82nd-ranked Savannah Broadus to secure the victory.
 
Katja Wiersholm Named Pac-12 Player of the Week
After the win over Pepperdine, Katja Wiersholm earned her first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor for her play in Cal's win over USC, 4-3, on March 26 in Berkeley.
 
In doubles vs. USC, the 29th-ranked Wiersholm and Jessica Alsola defeated the 64th-ranked Eryn Cayetano and Grace Piper, 6-3, on court one to clinch the doubles point for the Bears. In singles, the 122nd-ranked Wiersholm beat USC's 77th-ranked Snow Han, 6-4, 6-3, on court three, to clinch the victory.
 
A product of Kirkland, Washington, Wiersholm has records of 17-1 in singles and 12-2 in doubles in her first semester of collegiate tennis.
 
Poll Position
Cal was ranked 14th in last week's ITA and Tennis Channel/USTA team polls. The Bears also have three doubles teams ranked in the top 50, including Cal's duo of Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm, who are ranked 29th, Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov, who are ranked 35th, and Alsola and Erin Richardson, who are ranked 45th. While Alsola and Richardson (10-4 record) owe much of their ranking to their success in the fall – when the two reached the semifinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and qualified for the ITA Fall National Championships – the newer duo of Alsola and Wiersholm has posted a 6-0 record, including going 2-0 on court one, in the spring. Giavara and Ivanov have a 15-5 record, including a 9-0 mark in tournament play.
 
In singles, Alsola (27-6) is ranked 62nd, followed by Giavara (10-11) at No. 101 and Wiersholm (17-1) at No. 122.
 
Scouting the Bears

  • Freshman Jessica Alsola reached the singles semifinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in the fall and earned her first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor (see below) on Jan. 25
  • Junior Haley Giavara was a singles All-American and the ITA Northwest Regional Rookie of the Year as a freshman
  • Wiersholm has clinched four of Cal's nine wins, including March 18 against Utah and March 6 against Oregon
  • Wiersholm clinched Cal's first two wins of the season in the first two matches of her career against UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine
  • Cal has won the doubles point in 11 of its 16 dual matches
  • 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.

Scouting the Sun Devils

  • Arizona State is 8-1 at home
  • The Sun Devils split their last two matches, beating No. 49 Rice, 4-0, on March 26 and losing at No. 53 Oregon, 4-3, on March 20
  • ASU's lone Pac-12 win so far was a 4-2 victory over Washington State on March 5
  • The pair of Patricija Spaka and Domenika Turkovic is ranked 26th in doubles
  • Sheila McInerney is in her 38th season as Arizona State's head coach

Scouting the Wildcats

  • Arizona has won four straight matches
  • In their last two matches, the Wildcats beat No. 49 Rice, 4-3, on March 25 and won at No. 53 Oregon, 5-2, on March 18
  • Prior to that, Arizona won two matches on March 15, beating Drake, 4-0, and Grand Canyon, 4-0, at the Robson Tennis Center
  • Ryan Stotland is in his fourth season as Arizona's head coach

Jessica Alsola Named Pac-12 Player of the Week In January
Cal freshman Jessica Alsola earned her first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor on Jan. 25 after she helped the Golden Bears open the dual-match season 2-0 on the road.
 
Alsola picked up a big win in ninth-ranked Cal's 4-3 win over No. 2 Pepperdine on Jan. 22, defeating the 30th-ranked Victoria Flores at court-three singles, 6-3, 7-6(5), in Malibu. One day earlier, Alsola beat Camille Kiss, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, in Cal's 6-1 rout of UC Santa Barbara.
 
Along with her No. 62 singles ranking, Alsola is ranked seventh in the ITA Newcomer poll.
 
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalWomensTennis), Instagram (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (@CalWomensTennis).
 
Next Time
Cal plays at Washington State on April 8 and at No. 24 Washington on April 9.

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