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 to set up a clash with San Diego. Hannah Viller Moeller beat Leena Bennetto 6-3, 6-4, to clinch the victory over the Tigers. But, despite a singles win by Cal’s Jessica Alsola, the Toreros prevailed over the Bears, 4-1, to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. The Bears last reached national indoors in 2022, when they got as far as the quarterfinals.
 
Cal captured the title at national indoors – marking the program’s first national team championship – in 2016.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Hannah Viller Moeller – who is currently 14-5 in singles – won the singles title in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and built a 13-2 fall record to earn her No. 12 ranking
• Viller Moeller capped the first half of the season by reaching the singles quarterfinals of the ITA National Fall Championships
• The 14th-ranked Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika – who have a 17-2 doubles record – won the title of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships and reached the round of 16 in the ITA National Fall Championships
• In the fall 17th-ranked Jessica Alsola (15-6) reached the consolation final of the ITA National Fall Championships, advanced through the qualifying rounds to the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships, in which she reached the quarterfinals, and reached the round of 16 in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships
• Katja Wiersholm (12-2), ranked 36th in singles, had an impressive start to 2023-24, including winning the top-flight singles title at the Cal Fall Invitational and advancing to the quarterfinals at regionals
• Lan Mi (20-2) has won 14 straight singles matches; the junior won the top-flight singles crown at the Saint Mary’s Fall Invitational in October
• Cal Athletics Hall of Famer and two-time NCAA doubles champion Amanda Augustus – the 2021 Pac-12 Coach of the Year and five-time ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year – is in her 17th year as head coach at her alma mater
• Assistant coach and former Cal men’s tennis player Sean Hill is in his second year on the Cal staff

Scouting the Illini

• Illinois beat Missouri, 6-1, Eastern Illinois, 7-0, and Charlotte, 4-1, to start the season 3-0 before losing at No. 15 Duke, 4-2, in its last match
• The duo of Kate Duong and Megan Houser advanced to the ITA National Fall Championships in November, falling in the doubles round of 32
• Duong and Houser – who reached the NCAA doubles quarterfinals last season – got to the semifinals of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships in October
• Last year, No. 35 Illinois lost to No. 26 Florida State, 4-2, in the first round of the NCAA Championship to finish the season with an 18-10 record
• Evan Clark is in his eighth year as head coach of Illinois

Scouting the Sooners

• Oklahoma started the season 2-0 after wins over Wichita State, 6-1, and Wyoming, 6-1, but the Sooners then lost to No. 14 Ohio State, 4-3, and No. 4 Michigan, 4-3, to even their record
• Four Sooners are ranked in singles in No. 16 Florencia Urrutia, No. 37 Dana Guzman, No. 72 Alina Shcherbinina and No. 112 Ava Catanzarite
• In doubles, the team of Guzman and Shcherbinina is ranked No. 2 and the tandem of Julia Garcia Ruiz and Zdena Safarova is ranked 34th
• Audra Cohen – who led OU to a 22-10 record and to the NCAA Super Regionals last year – is in her eighth season as Oklahoma’s head coach

Scouting the Knights

• Central Florida beat No. 20 Georgia Tech, 4-0, in its dual-match opener
• The Knights ended the 2022-23 season with an 11-12 record after losing to Georgia Tech, 4-1, in the NCAA first round
• Bryan Koniecko is in his eighth year as head coach of UCF

Next Time
If Cal wins twice in Norman, the Bears will play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship from Feb. 9-12 in Seattle. They remain on the road for dual matches Feb. 18 at San Diego State and Feb. 19 at UCLA.
 
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