Five Bears Named to Indoor Intercollegiate
BERKELEY – California will send its largest contingent to the USTA/ITA National Women’s Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, as five Golden Bears will represent the Blue & Gold from Nov. 6-9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. Cal’s Lynn Chi, Maegan Manasse and Zsofi Susanyi will play in the singles tournament, while the team of Manasse and Denise Starr along with the duo of Susanyi and Klara Fabikova will compete in the doubles tournament.
“We’re really excited to be sending five players to New York,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “It’s one of the grand slams of college tennis, it’s the culmination of the fall season nationally and it’s played at the U.S. Open, which is really exciting for the collegiate players to have the opportunity to compete there.
“We’re also really excited that we have two doubles teams competing at the indoor intercollegiate. We haven’t had two doubles teams there in quite a while. Doubles is an important focus for this group this year. I’m just happy we’ve had some continuity in some partnerships and we’ve been able to build those teams. We’re really looking forward to seeing them compete with the best in the country in New York.”
Fabikova and Susanyi claimed automatic selection into the indoor intercollegiate when they defeated Starr and Manasse for the doubles title at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships. Susanyi, in singles, and Starr/Manasse, in doubles, got in via ITA wild cards, while Chi and Manasse were at-large entrants in the singles field.
Chi, a junior ranked eighth in the ITA singles poll, has compiled a 6-4 singles record so far this fall. She is coming off of a stellar sophomore season in which she reached the championship match of the NCAA singles tournament and earned All-America honors, All-Pac-12 second-team kudos, a No. 11 ITA ranking and a nomination for the Honda Sports Award for Tennis.
A sophomore ranked 61st, Manasse has put together a 14-2 record this fall that included impressive results including reaching the quarterfinals of both the regional championships and the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. She also defeated 35th-ranked sophomore teammate Starr to capture the top singles title at the Cal Nike Fall Invitational.
The pair of Manasse and Starr earned a No. 11 spot in this fall’s ITA poll and was 33rd in the last ITA poll of 2013-14, when it posted a 12-1 record. The Bears have a 9-2 record in 2014-15. The duo has played in two finals this fall, falling to Fabikova and Susanyi in the regional and beating Susanyi and Chi at the Cal Nike Fall Invitational. Starr and Manasse also advanced to the round of 16 at the All-American.
The veteran of this group, Susanyi has posted a 4-2 singles mark so far in her senior season. Most recently she reached the quarterfinals of the regional, falling to freshman teammate Karla Popovic. A two-time singles All-American, Susanyi also got to the round of 16 at the All-American Championships.
Also previously a doubles All-American, Susanyi has compiled a 5-0 doubles record with Fabikova this year. The duo played extensively two seasons ago, when the Bears earned a final ITA ranking of 42nd and had a 14-5 mark.
For the Bears heading to New York, their last competition was the regional, which ended on Oct. 14 at Stanford.
“They played a lot of tennis early on,” Augustus said. “They’re excited to get back and compete again after having a couple weeks off without tournaments. We’ve just been getting them ready and really excited to compete in one of only two indoor tournaments we’ll have throughout the year.”