No. 45 Cal Clashes With No. 16 Stanford In Big Slam

BERKELEY – On the final day of the regular season, the No. 45 California men's tennis team will host 16th-ranked Stanford in the Big Slam and celebrate the career of Sean Hill on Saturday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. A doubleheader with the Cal and Stanford women's match that starts at 12 p.m. at Hellman, the men's contest is slated to start not before 3:30 p.m.
 
The Golden Bears have an 11-8 record and are 2-5 in the Pac-12. Stanford is 15-4 (5-2 Pac-12) ahead of a Thursday match vs. Cal Poly on the Farm. In a nonconference match between the rivals on Feb. 12 on the Farm, the Cardinal won, 4-0.
 
Hill, a graduate student, is wrapping up his college career this semester. A Berkeley native, he previously played four seasons as an undergraduate at BYU, after starting out at Wake Forest.
 
Admission is free to regular-season tennis matches at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Fans can also follow all the action via the Hellman live stream and live scores by clicking here and can follow match updates on Twitter at @CalMensTennis.
 
Under current state and local guidelines, fans attending events held in outdoor venues are strongly encouraged to wear facial coverings at all times.
 
Last Time: Cal Splits At Hellman
Cal split its last matches, falling, 4-2, to No. 52 Oregon on April 8 and then beating No. 47 Washington, 4-3, on April 9 at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
Despite singles wins from Lucas Magnaudet and Philip Hjorth, the Bears lost to the Ducks. After Cal dropped the doubles point, Magnaudet beat Oregon's Avi Shugar, 6-2, 6-0, and Hjorth won a three-setter over Quinn Vandecasteele, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. That left the Bears tied with the Ducks at 2-2. But then Oregon got a win on court one to take a 3-2 lead. Oregon secured its win over the Bears when Jesper Klöv-Nilsson defeated Carl Emil Overbeck, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3, on court four.
 
On Saturday, the Bears twice trailed by two before rallying to beat the Huskies. The Bears drew a large crowd on Saturday for the match and for McManus Legends Day, in which Cal honored the life of late alumnus Jim McManus. Cal fell behind 3-1 before running the table, with Overbeck besting Han-Chih Lin, 6-3, 7-6(4), Magnaudet beating Nedim Suko, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, and finally Chen defeating Cesar Bouchelaghem, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, to complete the win.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked 45th in the latest ITA team poll. The Bears have two individual rankings, with Yuta Kikuchi (20-14 record) at No. 66 in singles and the pair of Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck (16-9) at No. 42 in doubles.
 
Scouting Cal

• Yuta Kikuchi was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on March 15 after clinching a pair of 5-2 wins over Santa Clara and, in the Bears' Pac-12 opener, No. 22 Utah
• Kikuchi defeated Arthur Neuhas, 6-4, 6-1, on March 11 to clinch against the Broncos and beat Franco Capalbo, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, to secure the victory over Utah
• Kikuchi also beat Athell Bennett, 6-4, 6-4, to clinch Cal's 5-2 win over Purdue on March 16 in Berkeley
• Carl Emil Overbeck – with a 24-10 singles record – leads the Bears with the most singles victories
• Overbeck clinched Cal's 6-1, March 20 win over No. 56 Cal Poly, beating Colter Smith, 6-3, 6-0
• In the fall, Overbeck won the consolation final of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, beating Utah's Ryan Ali, 6-2, 7-5
• Kris Kwinta (UCLA '08) is in his first season as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis
• Kwinta's first-year staff includes assistant coach and former BYU player Francis Sargeant along with volunteer assistant coach and former professional player Jared Donaldson
• Kwinta and Sargeant won the consolation bracket of the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship, beating Bears Sean Hill and Lucas Magnaudet in the final of the open tournament on March 6 in La Jolla

Scouting the Cardinal

• Prior to Stanford's Thursday match with Cal Poly, the Cardinal had won three straight
• Last Friday, the Cardinal beat Washington, 4-1, and last Saturday Stanford beat Oregon, 4-0, on the Farm
• In singles, Arthur Fery is ranked ninth, Max Basing is ranked 52nd and Alexandre Rotsaert is 97th
• In doubles, Fery and Rotsaert are ranked 14th, Fery and Axel Geller are ranked 57th, and Geller and Tomas Kopczynski are ranked 64th
• Paul Goldstein is in his eighth year as Stanford's head coach

 
Goransson Wins Battle Of Cal Alums To Reach Davis Cup
Cal alumnus Andre Goransson qualified for the Davis Cup finals with Sweden on March 5, when his team defeated Japan and former Cal teammate Ben McLachlan, 3-2, in Helsingborg, Sweden.
 
"It was amazing to do it at home," Goransson said. "It was unlike anything I'd ever done in terms of the atmosphere and the excitement."
 
Goransson paired with Elias Ymer to beat McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama, 2-6, 7-6(9), 7-5, in a doubles match that took two hours and 40 minutes. Sweden clinched the victory over Japan when Ymer beat Yosuke Watanaki in singles, 6-3, 6-3.
 
"It was great playing him and sharing a court with Ben," Goransson said. "He's a great friend of mine. It was fun given that we played together here at Cal, and to play Davis Cup against each other, we were both excited to do that.
 
McLachlan – currently ranked 34th in the world in doubles – and Goransson – who's ranked 69th in doubles – partnered in doubles while at Cal in the 2013-24 season, when McLachlan was a senior and Goransson was a freshman.
 
The United States also qualified for the Davis Cup finals on March 5 when the U.S. beat Colombia, 4-0, in Reno, Nevada. The U.S. team features former Cal volunteer assistant coach Rajeev Ram, who's ranked fourth in doubles. Ram paired with Jack Sock to clinch the victory when they beat Colombia's Nicolas Barrientos and Juan-Sebastian Cabal, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Stay Posted
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Next Time
Cal competes in the Pac-12 Championship from April 20-23 in Ojai, California.