The fifth-seeded Bears fell in the Pac-12 quarterfinals to the fourth-seeded Cardinal, 4-2, ousting Cal men’s tennis from the tournament. The loss comes after the Bears had also recently lost to Stanford 4-3 April 15.

In doubles, Stanford’s Aryan Chaudhary and Filip Kolasinski defeated Cal’s Siddhant Banthia and Ryder Jackson 6-4 on court two. The Bears pushed back with Derrick Chen and Philip Hjorth defeating their opponents on court three 6-3, while Yuta Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck defeated their opponents 6-3 on court one. The win clinched the doubles point for the Bears.

“We started off well, we had a good doubles point,” Chen said. “(There was) a bit of a change up with the lineup, but we got off to a good start.”

But the good start did not last long. Despite Cal taking the 1-0 lead against Stanford after doubles, the Cardinal started raking in the singles matches. Stanford’s first point came from Neel Rajesh, who defeated Overbeck in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on court four. This was quickly followed by Arthur Fery, ranked No. 4 in singles nationwide, who defeated Kikuchi 6-1, 7-6(4) on court one. The score was then 2-1.

While Cal was able to even the score with a victory from Lucas Magnaudet on court five against Kolasinski, Stanford put the Bears away with two more victories on courts three and six. On court three, No. 27 Max Basing defeated Cal’s Chen in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, while on court six, Chaudhary beat Banthia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

“The difference in the day was that they came out strong in singles,” Chen said. “They kind of just played freely. It’s hard to see other courts, but they just came out strong in singles and when you lose that many first sets it’s hard to come back.”

While Chen said the team had good energy, it was still a “unique” match because the courts are split into four top courts and four bottom courts, meaning that communication is disconnected.

Head coach Kris Kwinta said the team did not perform to its best capabilities and it was disappointing to see the Bears not show off their best tennis.

Cal will now head to the NCAA tournament as a second-seeded team. The Bears will face off against No. 31 LSU to kick off the national tournament. The showdown will take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Saturday, May 6.