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With Friday wins in two different tournaments, Katja Wiersholm (left) and Mao Mushika (right) qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship.
ROME, Ga. – Two members of the California women’s tennis team qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship on Friday, with senior Katja Wiersholm booking her ticket to Baylor with a quarterfinal win at the ITA Conference Masters Championships in Georgia and sophomore Mao Mushika advancing with a win at the ITA West Sectional Championships in Los Angeles.
At the Rome Tennis Center, third-seeded Wiersholm, ranked 33rd, defeated UC San Diego’s Nos. 5-8-seeded Julia Haynes 6-0, 6-2 in the singles quarterfinals to claim a spot in NCAA singles later this month in Waco, Texas. The Cal veteran withdrew from the semifinals at ITA Conference Masters due to illness.
This marks Wiersholm’s second trip to the NCAA Singles Championship, including last season, when she lost in the round of 64. She also competed in the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2023, with Wiersholm and Jessica Alsola falling in the round of 32.
LOS ANGELES – Mao Mushika earned her second trip to the NCAA individual championships Friday when the 107th-ranked Bear defeated Pepperdine’s Vivian Yang 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the ITA West Sectional Championships at USC. All four semifinalists from west sectionals advance to Baylor.
Cal’s second-seeded Lan Mi lost in the quarterfinals to UCLA’s fifth-seeded Kate Fakih 6-4, 6-3. But the senior could still reach the postseason with a playoff win against Yang on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT. Along with the semifinalists, two quarterfinal playoff winners from west sectionals advance to NCAA singles.
Mushika – who played in the NCAA Doubles Championship last May – plays Fakih in the singles semifinals Saturday at 10 a.m. PT.
Cal’s second-seeded doubles team of Mi and Berta Passola Folch won its opening round of 16 match against Washington’s 17th-ranked Reece Carter and Alexia Jacobs 6-3, 6-3. But the Bears lost to UCLA’s Fakih and Olivia Center 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Playing in the consolation singles quarterfinals, 106th-ranked Passola Folch bested Washington’s 54th-ranked Jacobs 6-3, 6-4. The Bear plays Arizona’s Midori Castillo in the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT.
TEMPE, Ariz. – In Cal’s third competition of the day,…
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