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Women's Tennis
BERKELEY - Under a mostly sunny sky on Sunday, Maegan Manasse beat Nour Abbes, 6-2, 6-2, to give No. 6 Cal a 4-0 victory over No. 52 Washington in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend final and qualify the Golden Bears for the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship. The Golden Bears (2-0) knocked off Cal State Northridge, 4-0, in the morning in their dual-match opener and then followed with the afternoon win over the Huskies to claim their berth to national indoors in Madison, Wisconsin.
"It's a great feeling clinching a match and taking us off to indoors," Manasse said.
The Huskies (6-1) got to Sunday's final by beating No. 44 Saint Mary's, 4-1, earlier in the day at the Channing Tennis Courts. The Gaels (1-1) ended the ITA Kick-Off Weekend with a 4-0 victory over the Matadors (0-2) in the consolation match also at Channing.
Men's Gymnastics
Bears Total 425.300 in Top Five Clash: Cal Placed Third In A Battle Of Three Top Five Programs
BERKELEY, Calif. - The No. 5 California Golden Bears men's gymnastics team finished third in a high-profile meet at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley on Sunday afternoon, posting a team total of 425.300. No. 2 Stanford won the meet with a total of 445.550, while No. 4 Ohio State scored a 435.550. Senior co-captain Kevin Wolting led the way for the Bears in the all-around competition with a total score of 86.800, while sophomore Yordan Aleksandrov showed very well by hitting on all six routines in the all-around, posting a score of 84.200.
"We are back on the map," head coach Brett McClure said following Sunday's competition. "To have these great teams to come here to Berkeley at Haas Pavilion and have a great turnout today really was exciting. We had some challenges during the warmup and had to make some last minute changes to the lineup, but we've been doing that since the beginning, so this was a great opportunity to get some experience for the young guys and provide some of the older ones with a little bit of rest to get everyone healthy and prepared for the final push."
Women's Basketball
USC Pulls Away, Beats Bears, 61-47: Penina Davidson Comes Up Two Points Shy Of Her Career High
LOS ANGELES - Three Golden Bears reached double figures in scoring, but a 19-3 run in the fourth quarter led USC to a 61-47 victory over California Sunday afternoon from the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
With the loss, Cal has now lost five games in a row and drops its record to 10-9 overall and 1-7 in Pac-12 play.
Women's Gymnastics
STANFORD, Calif. - Season-best totals on vault, beam and floor powered the No. 22 Golden Bears to their highest team total of 2016, a 195.65, at the Stanford triangular meet Sunday afternoon. Cal took second behind No. 24 Stanford (196.675). San Jose State was third with a 194.875.
The Bears made cleaning up their routines and having more positive energy a priority in practice last week, and the extra attention paid off as Cal turned in a pair of 49.0 event totals on their last two events of the afternoon. The Bears logged season-high scores of 49.175 on floor and 49.125 on vault, and also tallied a 48.825 on beam.
"This team is very invested in trying to figure out in how to be better. They're coming up with
ideas and suggestions in practice to help us get one day better for the next meet," said head coach Justin Howell. "Everybody's bought in and wants to keep moving forward, and that's all you can hope for as a coach."
Soccer Stars
Super Bowl
BERKELEY - Three former Cal football players - running back C.J. Anderson (Denver Broncos), head coach Ron Rivera (Carolina Panthers) and assistant defensive backs coach Richard Rodgers Sr. (Carolina Panthers) - have reached Super Bowl 50 with the game to be played for the only the second time ever in the Bay Area at Levi's® Stadium in Santa Clara on Sunday, Feb. 7 (3:30 pm PT, CBS).
Cal has now had at least one former player represent the Golden Bears in the Super Bowl in 14 of the last 15 seasons but this will mark the first time that former Cal players have ever squared off against each other with one an NFL player and the other an NFL coach.
Rivera is also the first former Cal player to serve as a head coach in the Super Bowl. Marv Levy was a head coach both at Cal (1960-63) and in four Super Bowls for the Buffalo Bills (XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII).