ITA
Cal will celebrate the career of Berta Passola Folch on Senior Day on Friday.
The 23rd-ranked California women’s tennis team (9-4, 6-2 ACC) returns to the cozy confines of the Hellman Tennis Complex for its last homestand of the regular season, starting with Friday’s match against No. 9 Virginia. Prior to facing the Cavaliers, Cal will honor Berta Passola Folch in its Senior Day ceremony. The Golden Bears close the weekend Sunday when they host Virginia Tech.
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The Bears and their opponents will be jockeying for seeding position ahead of the ACC Championship slated for April 14-19 in Cary, North Carolina. Heading into Friday’s match, Cal is tied for fifth place in the conference with Miami and Duke (all 6-2 in the ACC), the Cavaliers (8-0) top the standings and Virginia Tech (1-7) is in 14th place.
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Passola Folch — Cal’s lone Senior Day honoree — is in the midst of a career year that included a run to the NCAA Singles Championship final in the fall, her first All-America honor, a career-best No. 8 singles ranking and her first ACC Player of the Week accolade. She collected the latter April 24 after she led the Bears to conference-opening wins over Clemson 4-1 and Georgia Tech 4-0.
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Vs. No. 9 Virginia (15-4, 8-0 ACC)
Noon PT, Friday, April 3
Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, CA
Live Stream: https://calbea.rs/4tmG8Ij
Live Scores:Â https://calbea.rs/4sWJBO7
Admission: Free
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Vs. Virginia Tech (4-12, 1-7 ACC)
10 a.m. PT, Sunday, April 5
Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, CA
Live Stream:Â https://calbea.rs/4tmG8Ij
Live Scores:Â https://calbea.rs/41DrtwG
Admission: Free
Last Time: Bears Beat Cardinals, Lose To Irish
Cal won its third straight ACC road match when Mille Johanna Moerk clinched a 4-1 victory over Louisville last Friday in Kentucky. The freshman defeated Lika Peresypkina 6-2, 6-2 to secure the win, while Mao Mushika and Johanne Svendsen clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 result over Berta Miret and Elena Noguero.
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The Bears lost at No. 70 Notre Dame 4-1 in a conference road contest on Sunday, with Cal All-American Mao Mushika posting a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Bojana Pozder.
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Poll Position
In this week’s polls, Cal is ranked No. 23 by the ITA and No. 21 by Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR). The ITA singles rankings features four Bears: No. 11 Berta Passola Folch (25-6), No. 29 Johanne Svendsen (7-2), No. 84 Mao Mushika (17-7) and No. 104 Naomi Xu (7-10). Two Cal pairs are ranked in the ITA doubles poll: No. 58 Mushika and Svendsen (6-2) and No. 85 Mushika and Passola Folch (2-1).
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Scouting the Bears
Cal has a 5-2 home record.
Berta Passola Folch capped an impressive fall season when the Cal senior reached the final of the NCAA Singles Championship in the first national individual tournament of her career and earned her first All-America honor along the way.
The Spaniard qualified for NCAAs by advancing to the semifinals at the ITA West Sectional Championships in Seattle.
Passola Folch has produced a 9-2 singles record in 2026 after posting a 16-4 mark in the first half of the season.
Danish freshman Johanne Svendsen — who made her Cal debut in January — boasts career-best WTA rankings of 361 in singles and 516 in doubles; she is currently ranked 596th in singles and 862nd in doubles.
Svendsen has extensive experience playing for her country in the Billie Jean King Cup, competing in tournaments between 2022 and 2025.
The first-year Bear — who won her first seven singles matches — has records of 7-2 in singles and 7-2 in doubles.
Sophomore Greta Greco Lucchina also qualified for NCAA singles at ITA West Sectionals, winning a playoff match in Seattle to join Passola Folch in Orlando.
Overall, four Bears competed in NCAA singles in November, including Mao Mushika, a junior who advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Conference Masters Championships to book her spot at nationals.
Mushika partnered with Greco Lucchina to win the doubles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in the fall to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.
The Japan native garnered doubles All-America honors last year when she paired with former Bear Jessica Alsola to earn the No. 4 ranking in the last ITA poll of the 2024-25 season.
Mushika is currently ranked twice in doubles — No. 58 with Svendsen and No. 85 with Passola Folch.
Mushika has an 8-2 singles record in 2026 and was 9-5 in singles in the fall.
Also during this season’s ITA regionals, sophomore Naomi Xu made a run to the singles final to claim her spot at NCAAs.
The Bears are led by interim head coach Kris Kwinta, who is also in his fifth season at Cal as the Peter Wright Director of Men’s Tennis.
Former Cal All-Americans Stephanie Kusano Wallace and Jean Lozano are assistant coaches for the Bears.
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Scouting the Cavaliers
Last season, Cal upset then-No. 2 Virginia 4-1 during the regular season in Charlottesville, Virginia, but the then-No. 7 Cavaliers beat the Bears 4-2 in the ACC quarterfinals
Virginia is on a nine-matching winning streak that started with a 4-1 result over Northwestern in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship consolation draw and continued with eight consecutive ACC victories.
The Cavaliers’ last two matches were a 4-2 win over No. 24 Duke and a 4-3 victory over No. 5 North Carolina at home.
Virginia senior Annabelle Xu is the older sister of Cal’s Naomi Xu.
Five Cavaliers are ranked in singles: No. 20 Xu, No. 82 Vivian Yang, No. 83 Katie Rolls, No. 106 Isabelle Lacy and No. 113 Martina Genis Salas.
Two Virginia doubles teams are ranked: No. 6 Yang/Melodie Collard and No. 27 Xu/Genis Salas.
Sara O’Leary is in her ninth year as head coach of Virginia.
Scouting the Hokies
In 2025, Cal beat Virgina Tech 6-1 in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Virginia Tech hosts Stanford on Friday.
In their last two matches, the Hokies lost to No. 5 North Carolina 4-0 and No. 24 Duke 4-0 at home.
The pair of Arina Gamretkaia and Ozlem Uslu is ranked 45th in doubles.
Terry Ann Zawacki-Holdren is in her 20th year as Virginia Tech’s head coach.
Next Time
Cal completes the homestand when it hosts No. 36 Stanford in the Big Slam on Tuesday.
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Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Instagram (@CalWomensTennis), X (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (/CalWomensTennis/).
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