No. 20 Cal Falls At No. 16 Miami 5-2

Cal sophomore Katja Wiersholm won in straight sets in singles vs. Miami.

WTEN2/11/2023 1:07 PM | By: Cal Athletics

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – After rain wiped out the Cal women’s tennis team’s two home matches last weekend, the 20th-ranked Golden Bears got to complete a road match on Saturday, with Cal falling to No. 16 Miami, 5-2, at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
 
Playing in sunny, 80-degree weather, sophomores Katja Wiersholm and Jessica Alsola won in singles, as the Bears – who also had their Cal Winter Invitational canceled by rain in January – evened its record at 2-2. Miami improved to 4-1.
 
“It was a fantastic match,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “We’re doing the best we can to get caught up in match play we’re a little behind in. The doubles point was very close today. It came down to a couple of points here and there. We were in a good position especially on the top two courts.
 
“The match was a couple of points away from being a 4-3 in our favor.”
 
Cal’s doubles team of Alsola and Wiersholm – ranked 12th – faced the 17th-ranked Daevenia Achong and Alexa Noel in a good battle on court one, with the Canes prevailing in a tight contest, 6-4. Over on court two, Cal’s senior tandem of Haley Giavara and Erin Richardson were leading Isabella Pfennig and Maya Tahan, 6-5, when Miami clinched the doubles point on court three, as Audrey Boch-Collins and Mia Mack beat the Bears’ Hannah Viller Moeller and Berta Passola Folch, 6-1.
 
Miami won twice in singles to take a 3-0 lead, and then the Canes clinched the overall victory on court five, as Tahan beat Passola Folch, 6-3, 6-4, to make the score 4-0.
 
The Bears won two of the last three matches – with Wiersholm defeating the 121st-ranked Achong, 6-2, 6-2, on court three and the 22nd-ranked Alsola beating Pfennig, 6-4, 6-7(7), 1-0(4), on court two – to end the day.
 
“We came here to get good matches and have another one tomorrow,” Augustus said. “We’re getting better each match we play. It’s just that some teams have played several matches, and that was just our fourth. One match at a time.”
 
Cal next plays 10th-ranked North Carolina State on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET in Miami.