No. 19 Cal Heads To Oklahoma For ITA Kickoff Weekend

Berta Passola Folch and No. 19 Cal take on Illinois to start the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Oklahoma.

WTEN1/25/2024 4:36 PM | By: Cal Athletics

The 19th-ranked California women’s tennis team begins dual-match play this season in the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Norman, Oklahoma, with the Golden Bears facing Illinois (3-0) on Saturday in the first meeting between the two programs.
 
The four-team Norman event is one of 15 ITA Kickoff Weekends taking place around the country. Host and 16th-ranked Oklahoma  (2-2) plays No. 23 Central Florida (1-0) in Saturday’s other ITA Kickoff Weekend match, with the two first-day winners playing each other Sunday for the right to move on to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in February.
 
ITA Kickoff Weekend
 
Cal Vs. Illinois
When: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. PT
Where: Headington Family Tennis Center, Norman, Okla.
Watch: PlaySight
Live Scores: StatBroadcast
 
Cal Vs. Oklahoma/UCF
When: Sunday, Jan. 28, 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. CT / 8 a.m. or Noon PT
Where: Headington Family Tennis Center, Norman, Okla.
Watch: PlaySight
Live Scores: TBA
 
Last Time Out: Bears Shine In Cal Winter Invite
Cal won a combined 15 singles and doubles matches as its Cal Winter Invitational came to an end Jan. 14 in Berkeley.
 
The Bears captured eight wins in singles and seven victories in doubles. In singles, Valentina Ivanov and Katja Wiersholm collected quality results over ranked USC opponents. Wiersholm defeated the 83rd-ranked Eryn Cayetano, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, while Ivanov beat the 22nd-ranked Emma Charney, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0. Four Bears finished the Cal Winter Invite with 2-0 singles records, including Ivanov, Wiersholm, Mao Mushika and Lan Mi.
 
In doubles, Cal’s duo of Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika beat USC’s Snow Han and Naomi Cheong, 6-4, and bested the Saint Mary’s pair of Iman Khan and Olivia Rook, 6-1, to improve the twosome’s record to 2-1 at the Cal Winter Invite.
 
Poll Position
Along with Cal’s No. 19 ranking in the ITA team poll, three Bears are ranked in singles – No. 12 Hannah Viller Moeller, No. 17 Jessica Alsola and No. 36 Katja Wiersholm – and the pair of Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika is ranked 14th in doubles
 
Last Year’s ITA Kickoff Weekend
Cal defeated Princeton, 4-1, in its 2023 ITA Kickoff Weekend in Berkeley…