No. 10 Cal Falls To No. 3 Stanford In Pac-12 Final

Mao Mushika and Cal’s deep run into the Pac-12 Championship ended in Saturday’s loss to Stanford.

WTEN4/27/2024 4:38 PM | By: Cal Athletics

OJAI – Playing in the Pac-12 Championship for the last time, the 10th-ranked California women’s tennis team lost to third-ranked Stanford 4-0 in the final Saturday at Libbey Park.
 
Cal (18-6) awaits Monday’s 3:30 p.m. PT NCAA selection show to learn its next opponent, while Stanford (22-2) earns the Pac-12’s automatic entry into the NCAA Championship.
 
As in Friday’s Pac-12 semifinal win over UCLA, Cal junior Katja Wiersholm played in doubles but was unable to play in singles. Unlike Friday, Cal could not make up for the loss of one of its best players Saturday.
 
Stanford won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The Cardinal clinched on court three, with Wiersholm and Berta Passola Folch falling to Katherine Hui and Valencia Xu, 6-4.
 
In singles, Cal had some success in the bottom half of the order, with courts five and six earning the two first-set wins the Bears had on the day. Passola Folch won 6-4 over Xu in the first set on court six, and then Lan Mi captured the first set on court five over Hui 6-2. Playing on court four, Cal freshman Mao Mushika suffered a narrow, 7-6 loss in the first set against Stanford’s 121st-ranked Alexis Blokhina.
 
But after losses to the Cardinal on courts one and three, Cal trailed 3-0. Stanford clinched against the Bears on court two, with Cal’s 52nd-ranked Valentina Ivanov falling to the ninth-ranked Connie Ma, 6-3, 6-1.
 
Pac-12 Championship – Final
 
[2] No. 3 Stanford (22-2) def. [4] No. 10 California (18-6), 4-0
April 27, 2024, in Ojai, Calif.
Libbey Park

Doubles

1. No. 20 Connie Ma/Alexandra Yepifanova (Stanford) def. No. 18 Hannah Viller Moeller/Mao Mushika (Cal), 6-2

2. Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina (Stanford) vs. No. 56 Jessica Alsola/Valentina Ivanov (Cal), 5-5 UNF

3. Katherine Hui/Valencia Xu (Stanford) def. Berta Passola Folch/Katja Wiersholm (Cal), 6-4*

Order of finish: 1, 3*

*Clinched the doubles point for Stanford

 

Singles

1. No. 34 Angelica Blake (Stanford) def. No. 41 Hannah Viller Moeller (Cal), 6-0, 6-1

2. No. 9 Connie Ma (Stanford) def. No. 52 Valentina Ivanov (Cal), 6-3, 6-1^

3. No. 30 Alexandra Yepifanova (Stanford) def. No. 82 Jessica Alsola…