The Bears returned home from Honolulu to make their 2024 home debut at the annual Cal Winter Invitational, hosting USC, Cal Poly, Saint Mary’s and San Francisco from Friday through Sunday.
Starting off strong on day one of the tournament, the Bears notched nine wins out of the 15 matches they played.
The blue and gold dominated in singles, with other teams standing no chance against the Bears.
First off was Cal’s No. 36 ranked Katja Wiersholm, who played a gritty match against USC’s No. 42 Naomi Cheong. Wiersholm took her down 6-4, 7-5. Valentina Ivanov was another Cal player who was able to take home a win — she defeated USC’s No. 83 Eryn Cayetano 6-3, 6-3.
Mao Mushika also followed this trend, taking down No. 66 Grace Piper 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6). This brought Cal’s win tally against USC to three, with just two losses from Jessica Alsola and Hannah Viller Moeller.
Cal went on to take three more matches, all of which were against Cal Poly, to earn six total singles wins out of the eight matches that Cal played.
Cal wasn’t nearly as successful in doubles on day one, with only three matches won out of the six played.
While the Bears were relatively successful against the Trojans in singles, doubles proved to be insurmountable. Cal could not win a single doubles match against USC on day one, coming away with a loss in all three contests.
Day two matches, originally scheduled for Jan. 12, were postponed due to expected rain.
On day three of play, the Bears resumed their strong showing, blowing out the competing programs in singles, as well as doubles, coming away with 15 total wins.
Taking down No. 22 Emma Charney from USC was Cal’s Ivanov, who took wins 6-3, 1-6, 6-0. No. 36 Wiersholm was also able to defeat Eryn Cayetano in three sets, 6-4, 4-6 and 6-4.
No. 17 Alsola and Lan Mi were also successful in handing the Trojans losses in singles play, both in straight sets, allowing their opponents just seven wins across both matches.
Mao Mushika, No. 12 Viller Moeller and Makenna Thiel were all able to take down Cal Poly in singles, with Cami Brown also earning a win against Saint Mary’s Jamie Pope.
During doubles play, Cal was able to eventually earn some wins against the Trojans’ doubles teams — Viller Moeller and Mushika beat Snow Han and Cheong 6-4.
All in all, the Bears took eight out of the 10 singles matches played and seven out of eight doubles matches played on the final day of the tournament.
Cal played well, winning tennis throughout the Cal Winter Invite and is off to a strong start for its 2024 spring season, having posted key early wins ahead of dual matches later this season.