Cal Loses To ASU 4-1 In Pac-12 Quarterfinals

Mikey Wright (left), Alex Chang (right) and the Bears exited the Pac-12 tournament with Thursday’s loss to ASU.

MTEN4/25/2024 4:38 PM | By: Cal Athletics

OJAI – The 58th-ranked California men’s tennis team got a singles win from Lucas Magnaudet in Thursday’s Pac-12 Championship quarterfinal against No. 23 Arizona State at Libbey Park, but the fifth-seeded Golden Bears lost to the fourth-seeded Sun Devils 4-1 and exited the conference tournament.
 
Cal has a 10-10 record. ASU, which advances to Friday’s semifinals, is 17-8.
 
The Bears came close to taking a 1-0 lead after doubles. Qian Sun and Carl Emil Overbeck posted a 6-1 win over ASU’s Nicola Cigna and Daniel Phillips in the first completed match of the day. Magnaudet and fellow senior Ryder Jackson then fell to the 71st-ranked Max McKennon and Bor Artnak 6-3 to leave court one to settle the doubles point. In a tight match, Cal’s 38th-ranked Alex Chang and Mikey Wright lost to Murphy Cassone and Jacob Bullard 7-5 to give ASU the doubles point.

“Doubles is always huge for us,” said Kris Kwinta, Cal’s Peter Wright Director of Men’s Tennis. “We have so much youth in singles, and in some spots we don’t know what’s going to happen. Doubles is one of the spots we highly rely on. But we played with tentativeness, like against Stanford. We didn’t play our best, and they didn’t play their best, but we gave away too many easy balls, sitters. At this level you can’t afford to give those away and advance.”

 

In singles, Cal trailed 3-0 after the 96th-ranked Jackson lost to the 12th-ranked Cassone 6-3, 6-4 and then Timofey Stepanov fell to Bullard 7-6(5), 6-2.

 

Magnaudet put the Bears on the scoreboard when he bested Roi Ginat 6-4, 6-4 to make the score 3-1.

 

With courts two and three locked in three-set battles, Cal’s Jonathan Irwanto lost to Constantinos Koshis 6-4, 7-6(5) to end the match.

“It was disappointing,” Kwinta said. “We were stressed with the opportunity to make the NCAA tournament. It’s unfortunate. We’ve just got to keep improving these guys, their tennis and their mental strength, and get ready for next season.”

 

Pac-12 Championship – Quarterfinal Round

 

[4] No. 23 Arizona State (17-8) defeated [5] No. 58 California (10-10), 4-1

April 25, 2024, in Ojai, Calif.

Libbey Park

Doubles

1….