No. 20 Cal Hosts UCLA, No. 8 Pepperdine

Makenna Thiel and the Bears continue their season-opening, seven-match homestand this weekend.

WTEN2/1/2023 3:29 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – The 20th-ranked California women’s tennis team faces a Southern California tandem this weekend when the Golden Bears host UCLA and No. 8 Pepperdine at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The 2-1 Golden Bears face the Bruins (1-2) on Saturday at 12 p.m. and then battle the Waves (2-0) on Sunday at 12 p.m.
 
Admission is free for regular-season tennis at Hellman. Live streams and scores for the six Hellman courts are available by clicking here. Fans can also follow updates of all four matches at Hellman on Twitter at @CalWomensTennis.
 
Cal Splits In ITA Kickoff Weekend
Cal defeated Princeton, 4-1, in the ITA Kickoff Weekend opener on Jan. 27 in Berkeley, but San Diego upset the then-11th-ranked Bears, 4-1, on Jan. 28 to book the Toreros’ berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
 
Against the Tigers, the 93rd-ranked Hannah Viller Moeller clinched the victory with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Leena Bennetto at court-four singles. The Dane also teamed with Makenna Thiel to secure the doubles point after beating Bennetto and Zoe Howard, 6-2, on court three.
 
Jessica Alsola won her court-two singles match against USD, beating Claudia De Las Heras, 6-3, 6-1.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked No. 20 in Wednesday’s ITA Coaches Poll. In the most recent individual ITA polls, Jessica Alsola (currently with a 11-3 record) ranked 16th in singles, Hannah Viller Moeller (11-4) ranked 93rd, the duo of Alsola and Katja Wiersholm (12-5) sat at No. 15 in doubles and the pairing of Alsola and senior Valentina Ivanov (3-1) was 51st.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Cal won two out of three matches with Pepperdine in the 2021-22 season, with Katja Wiersholm clinching a 4-3 road result in her second career match in January, the Bears falling to the Waves 4-1 in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in February and Julia Rosenqvist clinching a 4-3 win in March in Berkeley
• Last season, Cal lost at UCLA, 6-1, in February, but the rematch in March in Berkeley was canceled due to health and safety protocols within the Bruin program
• Haley Giavara ended fall 2022 in France, where the Cal senior and Team USA won the Master’U BNP Paribas…