No. 12 Cal Starts Dual-Match Season At Home

Hannah Viller Moeller brings a 9-2 singles record into the first week of dual matches for the Bears.

WTEN1/18/2023 5:40 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – The 12th-ranked California women’s tennis team makes its 2023 home debut and starts the dual-match season this weekend, as the Golden Bears host UC Santa Barbara and 10th-ranked Pepperdine in nonconference action at the Hellman Tennis complex.
 
Cal faces the Gauchos on Saturday at 12 p.m. and then battles the Waves on Sunday at 12 p.m.
 
Admission is free for regular-season tennis at Hellman. Live streams and scores for the six Hellman courts are available by clicking here. Fans can also follow updates of Cal matches on Twitter at @CalWomensTennis.
 
Cal Winter Invitational Rained Out
The Cal Winter Invitational – which was scheduled for Jan. 13-15 and was supposed to mark the Bears’ 2023 home debut – was rained out.
 
Bears Start 2023 In Hawaii
Cal opened the New Year from Jan. 5-7 in the Weinman Foundation Invitational at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Highlights from the three-day event included the debut of freshman Berta Passola Folch and the return of senior Haley Giavara, who posted her first singles and doubles wins of the season after missing the first half of the year. Also, Passola Folch, Jessica Alsola and Makenna Thiel each posted a 2-1 singles record in the event.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked No. 12 in the Jan. 18 ITA poll. The Bears finished the 2021-22 season ranked 11th.
 
In the last individual ITA polls of 2022, Jessica Alsola (9-2 record) ranked 16th in singles, Hannah Viller Moeller (9-2) ranked 93rd, the duo of Alsola and Katja Wiersholm (13-4) sat at No. 15 in doubles and the pairing of Alsola and senior Valentina Ivanov (3-1) was 51st.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Haley Giavara ended fall 2022 in France, where the Cal senior and Team USA won the Master’U BNP Paribas Championship, with Cal head coach Amanda Augustus again on the U.S. staff
• Sophomores Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm were outstanding in the fall, as the duo won the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the consolation doubles final at the ITA National Fall Championships
• Alsola, Wiersholm and junior Hannah Viller Moeller reached the singles quarterfinals at ITA regionals
• Also last fall,…