Duo Falls In NCAAs To End Cal Season

Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm (playing outdoors at the Pac-12 Championship in this photo) fell in two sets in NCAA doubles in Orlando.

WTEN5/23/2023 9:42 PM | By: Cal Athletics

ORLANDO, Fla. – Playing in the NCAA Doubles Championship for the first time, Golden Bears Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm fell to a pair from North Carolina in the first round on Tuesday to end the season for the California women’s tennis team. The 12th-ranked Bears lost to UNC’s eighth-ranked Elizabeth Scotty and Reese Brantmeier, 6-1, 6-2, indoors on a rainy night at the USTA National Campus.
 
The result, combined with Alsola’s loss in the NCAA Singles Championship on Monday, meant the end of the line for the Bears in 2022-23.
 
“These matches didn’t quite go our way, but both matches – especially singles yesterday – were close,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “We played well in both matches. We played people who were more suited than us to play indoors, though everyone had to adjust of course. You learn a lot from working through conditions like this. I’m proud of Jessica and Katja. I’m really glad they got the opportunity to compete here, where they’re in the mix with all the top players.

“They did a fantastic job. They’re both great representatives of the core values of our program, and they compete with great intensity, class and sportsmanship. Both are outstanding in the classroom as well. They’re well-rounded student-athletes, and they’re only getting better.”

The doubles match was originally scheduled to start outdoors at 4:30 p.m. EDT. But lightning and eventually rain forced the match to move indoors – where there are only six courts – and delayed it until 6:15 p.m. EDT.

Dealing with bad weather was a theme for Cal this season, when several of the Bears’ dual matches and the annual Cal Winter Invitational were either canceled or postponed due to rain. Alsola’s singles match on Monday was also delayed and forced to move indoors due to lightning and rain.

 

“It’s ironic it rained again,” Augustus said. “We did our best to handle it. I look forward to these two and the rest of the team getting to play in much better climate conditions next year.

 

“Still, all in all, we had a good season.”

 

NCAA Doubles Championship – Round of 32

May 23, 2023, in…