J.T. Nishimura

A year of experience takes on a whole new meaning for the Cal men’s tennis team, as it started the season with only one freshman player and 10 veterans, seven of whom were freshmen last year.

For the second weekend in a row, the Cal men’s tennis team has captured a doubles title at a prestigious tournament — this time at the Aggie Invitational in Davis.

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association is the organization that releases rankings for college tennis players. In the preseason polls, a number of Bears made the list. No. 102 Jacob Brumm and No. 113 Jack Malloy were ranked in singles, while the duo of Can Kaya and Mert Zincirli was ranked at No. 59 in doubles.

Cal men’s tennis is kicking off its season this weekend with a young but experienced roster after a season of development.

The loss was not a dead end, but rather the seniors’ veering off on a different fork in the road. Cal tennis is now behind Griffith and Nishimura, but their impact as captains on the young players will still remain in seasons ahead.

No. 34 Cal started the tournament off with a bang against No. 24 North Carolina State. Although the team lost the doubles point, falling on courts one and three, the Bears rebounded, bringing some of the strongest singles play of their season to the cour

Perhaps the Bears realized they couldn’t dig themselves a hole much deeper — rather, they looked to claw their way out, as their play dramatically shifted the second set around.

It’s a cloudy day, practice is over and only three people are left at the Hellman Tennis Complex — Director of Men’s Tennis Peter Wright, associate head coach Tyler Browne and freshman Ben Draper.

Just as if they had to finish their match as soon as possible, the Bears beat down the Utes, 4-0, to draw closer to having a winning Pac-12 conference record.

The storm that cancelled the Arizona State match on Saturday travelled within Cal men’s tennis, fueling the team’s drive to wash Arizona away and down the gutter in a 4-1 victory for the their first conference win.