No. 22 Cal Falls At No. 6 Texas

Lucas Magnaudet (background) and Ryder Jackson (foreground) clinched the doubles point to give Cal a 1-0 lead over Texas.

MTEN1/28/2023 5:51 PM | By: Cal Athletics

AUSTIN, Texas – The 22nd-ranked California men’s tennis team took a 1-0 lead over No. 6 Texas in their ITA Kickoff Weekend opener, but the Longhorns prevailed, 4-1, to advance to Sunday’s final. The Golden Bears play Florida Atlantic in the consolation match on day two of the event.
 
Cal’s record now stands at 2-1 after the setback at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. Texas improved to 4-0.
 
Yuta Kikuchi and Philip Hjorth gave Cal an early edge in doubles over Texas, beating Chih Chi Huang and Eshan Talluri, 6-2, on court three. But the Longhorns rebounded when the seventh-ranked Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper edged the Bears’ Carl Emil Overbeck and Siddhant Banthia, 7-5, on court one. In another close match on court two, Cal’s Lucas Magnaudet and Ryder Jackson held off Siem Woldeab and Pierre-Yves Bailly, 7-6(5), to hand the Bears the doubles point.
 
But Texas won four straight singles matches, with the Longhorns clinching the match when Harper defeated Cal’s Derrick Chen, 6-4, 6-1, on court five.
 
Cal will play FAU – which lost to No. 14 Arizona, 4-0, on Saturday – at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday.