Bears One Step Closer To NCAAs After Wins In Malibu

Theo Dean could qualify for NCAAs in singles and doubles Saturday at ITA sectionals.

MTEN11/8/2024 9:28 PM | By: Cal Athletics

MALIBU – The California men’s tennis team continued its commanding run at the ITA West Sectional Championships on Friday when three Golden Bears in singles and two pairs in doubles moved one step closer to the postseason after they advanced another round in their respective draws.
 
The duo of Theo Dean and Carl Emil Overbeck and team of Alex Chang and Mikey Wright reached the doubles semifinals. With three pairs from west sectionals – the champion, runner-up and third-place winner – advancing to the NCAA Doubles Championship, at least one of the Cal tandems will qualify for the postseason, slated for Nov. 19-24 at Baylor.
 
Top-seeded Overbeck and Dean, who are ranked 25th, defeated USC’s Tristan Bradley and Karl Lee 6-0, 7-5 in the quarterfinals, while the 13th-ranked Wright and Chang beat Pepperdine’s Maxi Homberg and Linus Carlsson Halldin 3-6, 6-4, 10-5. Cal’s Timofey Stepanov and Derrick Chen fell to BYU’s 11th-ranked Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs 6-2, 6-4.
 
In the singles round of 16, Stepanov upset Stanford’s second-seeded and 32nd-ranked Henry von der Schulenberg 7-5, 6-3; fourth-seeded and 123rd-ranked Chang bested Utah’s Berk Bugarikj 6-1, 6-4; Nos. 5-8-seeded and 44th-ranked Dean beat Pepperdine’s Carlsson Halldin 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2; and Chen fell to UCLA’s Emon van Loben Sels 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. A victory in Saturday’s quarterfinal round qualifies the winner for the NCAA Singles Championship, since the four semifinalists move onto Baylor. Losing in the quarterfinals doesn’t automatically mean a player is out, as two quarterfinal playoff winners also qualify for NCAA singles.
 
The ITA West Sectional Championships continue Saturday starting at 10 a.m. PT with the doubles semifinals.
 
ITA West Sectional Championships – Cal Results
Nov. 8, 2024, in Malibu, Calif.
Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center
 
Doubles Quarterfinal Round
[1] No. 25 Theo Dean/Carl Emil Overbeck (Cal) def. Tristan Bradley/Karl Lee (USC), 6-0, 7-5
No. 13 Alex Chang/Mikey Wright (Cal) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin /Maxi Homberg (Pepperdine), 3-6, 6-4, 10-5
No. 11 Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Derrick Chen/Timofey Stepanov (Cal), 6-2, 6-4
 
Singles Round of 16
[4] No. 123 Alex…