Cal women’s tennis beat Syracuse and Louisville, but fell to Notre Dame in two weeks of ACC play across the country.
“We had a long stretch of away matches and it’s only our second year in the ACC, so we’re still kind of learning how to deal with that,” said senior Berta Passola Folch. “It’s not easy to be on the road for so long.”
The Bears kicked off their ACC road trip March 22 against the Orange in a dominant showing. Freshman Johanne Svendsen clinched the game, winning her seventh straight singles match.
Cal’s trip to New York marked its first indoor play of the dual match system, with the team arriving early to adapt to different conditions — which Syracuse has played most of its season in.
The extra days proved effective for the Bears who came out strong to win all three of the doubles courts. Their run didn’t stop there as they continued to win three singles points with ease to seal the victory. The Orange held Cal from a blank, earning one point with a two set win from Emma Scaldalai over Cal’s No. 91 Naomi Xu.
The Bears then headed south to continue their hot streak in another 4-1 showing against the Cardinals. Cal had a strong showing in doubles, winning the first point and setting the tone for the match.
The Bears couldn’t hold Louisville off for long, though, with Svendsen ending her undefeated singles run with a loss to the Cardinals’ Alice Otis and briefly tying the match.
Xu then quickly gained the first singles win over Louisville’s Anshika Jaswal on court six. Freshman Mille Johanna Moerk earned her first singles win of the season, topping Lika Peresypkina 6-2, 6-2 on court five to finish out the match.
Despite the back-to-back wins out east, Cal was not able to clinch its third win of the road trip, falling 1-4 to No. 70 Notre Dame in its final stop in the Midwest.
The Bears managed the first win of the day with Xu and Moerk defeating Akari Matsuno and Mari-Louise Van Zyl on court three, 6-1.
Despite the effort from the underclassmen, Cal was not able to win the doubles point with 65th-ranked duo of Mao Mushika and Svendsen falling 6-3 to Notre Dame’’s 45th-ranked Bianca Molnar and Bojana Pozder on court one and Passola Folch and Sophie Hernandez losing 6-4 to Rylie Hanford and Gabriella Rawles.
Entering singles play, the Bears had the stronger lineup of matchups on paper but were unable to find their footing. In unprecedented fashion, Svendsen lost her second consecutive singles match, dropping to No. 77 Molnar. Mushika earned Cal’s only point of the night in a straight set win against the Irish’s Pozder.
“Obviously, everyone was disappointed to lose,” Passola Folch said. “We’ve got big matches coming up, so I think the big thing was just to take whatever we could to learn from it, and then just get back to work and come back stronger for this week at home.”
The Bears have since fallen to No. 23 in national rankings, fighting to remain in the top 25 before the end of the regular season.
Cal, though, has a chance at redemption, facing off against No. 13 Virginia at home. The match is at noon this Friday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. A win would be huge for the Bears’ national standing and improve their seeding for postseason play.
“We all see it as a great opportunity — also just for our ranking. If we can get that win, then it’ll be great for us,” Passola Folch said. “We’re focusing on just little details right now.”