Cal men's tennis

While the rest of the team left the season behind after the Bears’ early exit in the NCAA team tournament, Cal’s Yuta Kikuchi still has a Herculean task against him: the NCAA singles championship.

After facing 25 opponents, playing 75 doubles and 150 singles matches this spring, Cal men’s tennis finished out its season with a second-round 4-0 loss to No. 7 Michigan at the NCAA championship.

Ranked No. 29 heading into nationals, Cal will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and face No. 33 LSU in the first round on Saturday.

The Bears beat San Francisco 5-1 and routed Davis 6-0, in what was an attempt by Cal’s head coach Kris Kwinta to put some additional pressure on his team ahead of tough matchups and conference play beginning as soon as later this week.

he Bears have their sights set on the upcoming double-header against San Francisco and UC Davis. While Cal will be taking San Francisco on its home courts in Berkeley on Saturday, the team will be traveling to Davis to take on the Aggies later that same day.

Despite Cal’s solid 6-1 win over Pacific on Thursday, head coach Kris Kwinta praised the team’s energy over anything else.

The Bears came back from Austin, Texas, with solid results in doubles competition but still much to accomplish to achieve regularity in singles matches.

It is going to be imperative to take control of the points and to dominate the rallies. Whether that is achievable against such a team, though, is a different question.

Routing Saint Mary’s 7-0 Tuesday and narrowly clinching against No. 13 Stanford with 4-3 Friday, this was a big week for the Bears.

This first week back on Hellman Tennis Complex will be a key starting point for a long string of dual matches, especially after starting off on the road.