Cal freshman Sophie Hernandez poses with head coach Amanda Augustus (right) and assistant coach Sean Hill (left) after winning the singles final.
BERKELEY – The California women’s tennis team closed out its annual fall tournament in style, capturing top-flight titles in singles and doubles on the last day of the Cal Fall Invitational. Three of the program’s youngest players won Sunday, with sophomore Tiziana-Marie Schomburg and freshman Naomi Xu taking the doubles title and freshman Sophie Hernandez winning the singles crown at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
The top-seeded Cal duo defeated the second-seeded Iman Khan and Olivia Rook of Saint Mary’s 8-5 in the morning final, while – in the last match of the three-day tournament – Hernandez prevailed 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 over Sacramento State’s Madelyn Ferreros in the singles final.
The top-flight singles semifinals featured Hernandez taking on the top-seeded Schomburg and the third-seeded Xu playing Ferreros. Hernandez defeated Schomburg 6-4, 6-3, and, in a taut battle on court two, Xu fell to Ferreros 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to set up the final. Meanwhile in the gold-flight singles semifinals, Cal graduate student Cami Brown fell to Nevada’s Petra Janigova 6-0, 6-2.
“We had a beautiful weekend of tennis at Hellman and the Channing Tennis Courts,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “It’s nice to get everyone out here on our home courts to kind of get the fall started. It was an interesting week, because we don’t normally have Bears playing in two tournaments at the same time. But it was a really good opportunity for us. I’m really proud of us for winning both the doubles and the singles here, notably with two of our freshman winning. Sophie made a really great comeback, coming back from a set down and almost being out of it to win singles. It’s great to see that type of resilience. I told both of them that your first college title is a very special thing, and hopefully they have many more to come as they get to wear the Blue & Gold the next four years.”
“It felt awesome,” Hernandez said. “It’s definitely extra special when you’re playing for something bigger than yourself, playing for an amazing school. It was great having my teammates here. I love having a team environment. The energy is just amazing. And it was definitely great…
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