Cal Tennis Season in Review

Let's start with the Men:

With a preseason ranking of 14, the Cal Men's were ranked in the top 25 all season long. In the regular season, the Bears compiled a 14-9 record with the biggest win a 4-3 victory over then No.4 Duke at home. The 5-2 and then 4-3 wins over Furd was also quite sweet. The Bears were supposed to make a Pac-12 Network debut against USC but that match was rained out.

RANKED SINGLES PLAYERS

#38 Ben McLachlan

#60 Campbell Johnson

#86 Christoffer Konigsfeldt

#122 Riki McLachlan

RANKED DOUBLES TEAMS

#32 Campbell Johnson/Christoffer Konigsfeldt

#59 Ben McLachlan and Riki McLachlan

#66 Mads Engsted and Ben McLachlan

In dual play, the most successful Bears was Campbell Johnson with a 16-6 record (mostly in No.3 singles). Gregory Bayane is next best with a 13-7 record (mostly in No.4 singles). In No.1 single, Ben McLachlan has 11-10 record. Christoffer Konigsfeldt played the No.2 spot for the most part as the Bears accumulated a 11-10 record in No.2 singles as a team. For the No.5 spot, the Bears had a respectable 10-11 record overall. The same cannot be said for No.6 singles as the Bears tried 4 different guys for a total record of 3-19.

In Doubles, the Bears had an overal record of 10-8, 12-5, and 11-10 for the three doubles.

MEN'S TENNIS STANDINGS

In the NCAA, the Bears had to play the first two rounds in Gainesville, FL. Bears beat Florida State 4-1 in the first round before beating the surprising Denver 4-1 (who upset host Florida) in the second round. In the Round of 16 in Urbana, Illinois, the Bears fell victim to Virginia 4-0 to end the team play. The team finished with a 16-10 record.

After eliminating Cal, Virginia won the 2013 NCAA Championship by upsetting top seed UCLA in the Championship round.

Bears do lose Christoffer Konigsfeldt and Riki McLachlan to graduation after this year. Nevertheless, a talented and successful core group do return next year, so the Bears should be able to build on this year and possibly be a top 10 squad next year.

==================================================================================

As for the Women, the Bears were ranked in the top 10 almost all year long.

RANKED SINGLES PLAYERS

#5 Zsofi Susanyi, So.

#8 Anett Schutting, Jr.

#43 Klara Fabikova, Fr.

#70 Lynn Chi, Fr

RANKED DOUBLES TEAMS

#33 Lynn Chi and Anett Schutting

#43 Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi

The Bears had pretty good record 1 through 6 in singles. Schutting or Susanyi (who missed part of the season due to injury) played as No.1 and went 15-6. Chi, Favikova, and Suhutting had a cumulative 15-4 record in No.2 singles. Bears are the most successful at No.3 singles with a 18-3 record from Chi, Favikova, and Susanyi. Senior Taylor Davis, although unranked, had a stellar 13-3 record as either No.4 or No.5. Fellow senior Annie Goransson has a 10-2 record splitting time between No.4, No.5, or No.6 singles.

The lone conference loss is by the Bears to USC (Bears also has a non-conference loss to UCLA). The clear highlight of the year was the 4-3 home win over Furd on the lone Pac-12 Network appearance on April 19th. In a very tight match, the seniors came through and got huge singles victory in No.5 and No.6 singles.

WOMEN'S TENNIS STANDINGS

In the NCAA tournament, the Bears swept Stony Brook and Auburn in the first round, before moving on to Urbana, Illinois. Bears defeated Alabama 4-1 in the Round of 16 before losing to Florida 4-2 to end the team play and finish the year with a team record of 19-6.

Furd won the 2013 NCAA Team Championship. As much as I hate to see another title for Furd, at least the Bears can boost a dual victory over the NCAA Champions this past season.

Looking ahead to next year, the Bears return a pretty solid core of ranked player. However, they do lose two seniors who despite not being ranked, were great anchors in the No.5 and No.6 spots in dual play. Cal Women's tennis were right on the verge of a first team championship not too long ago. They also had a couple of individual NCAA title in singles and doubles in recent years. Look for the Bears to be a national title contender again in 2014.

GO BEARS!