{"id":439676,"date":"2026-01-28T23:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/439676\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:50:10","slug":"no-16-cal-starts-dual-match-season-vs-no-17-ucla-no-20-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/439676\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 16 Cal Starts Dual-Match Season Vs. No. 17 UCLA, No. 20 USC"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStephen Woo\/KLC fotos \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Anya Murthy and the Bears play back-to-back matches at home this week.<\/p>\n

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WTEN1\/28\/2026 1:46 PM | By: Cal Athletics<\/p>\n


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\t\t\t\tThe 16th-ranked California women’s tennis team starts the dual-match season when it hosts former Pac-12 Conference foes UCLA and USC at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
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\nVs. No. 17 UCLA (2-1)
\n1:30 p.m. PT, Jan. 30
\nHellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
\nLive stream PlaySight<\/a>
\nLive scores StatInput<\/a>
\nAdmission Free
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\nVs. No. 20 USC (5-1)
\nNoon p.m. PT, Jan. 31
\nHellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
\nLive stream PlaySight<\/a>
\nLive scores StatInput<\/a>
\nAdmission Free
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\nThe Golden Bears are coming off a trip to the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Austin, Texas, last weekend, when they had hoped to qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. But severe weather prevented the event from being held.
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\nSvendsen Joins Bears
\nCal bolstered its roster in January when it added talented international student-athlete Johanne Svendsen<\/a>, who is eligible to play this season. The Copenhagen product \u2013 who joins fellow Danish freshman Mille Johanna Moerk<\/a> at Cal \u2013 has career-best WTA rankings of 361 in singles and 516 in doubles. With a current WTA singles ranking of 569, Svendsen is the second-highest ranked Danish player in the world behind No. 14 Clara Tauson. Svendsen has extensive experience playing for her country in the Billie Jean King Cup, competing in tournaments between 2022 and 2025. The right-hander played in BJK Cup qualifiers last spring against the United States, Slovakia and Canada, and in November she represented Denmark in the playoffs against Mexico and Canada.
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\nPoll Position
\nAlong with their No. 16 ranking from Wednesday’s ITA team poll, the Bears earned numerous rankings from the ITA’s November individual polls: singles \u2013 No. 9 Berta Passola Folch<\/a> (18-4), No. 63 Naomi Xu<\/a> (6-5), No. 73 Mao Mushika<\/a> (9-5) and No. 92 Greta Greco Lucchina<\/a> (11-4); doubles \u2013 No. 77 Greco Lucchina\/Mushika (5-1) and No. 80 Laura Cilekova<\/a>\/Mushika (2-2).
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\nScouting the Bears<\/p>\n


\n\tBerta Passola Folch<\/a> 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.
\n\tThe Spaniard qualified for NCAAs by advancing to the semifinals at the ITA West Sectional Championships in Seattle.
\n\tPassola Folch has won 10 of her last 11 singles matches.
\n\tSophomore Greta Greco Lucchina<\/a> also qualified for NCAA singles at ITA West Sectionals, winning a playoff match in Seattle to join Passola Folch in Orlando.
\n\tOverall, four Bears competed in NCAA singles in November, including Mao Mushika<\/a>, a junior who advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Conference Masters Championships to book her spot at nationals.
\n\tThe Japan native garnered doubles All-America honors last year when she paired with former Bear Jessica Alsola<\/a> to earn the No. 4 ranking in the last ITA poll of the 2024-25 season.
\n\tEarlier this fall, Mushika partnered with Greco Lucchina to win the doubles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Berkeley to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.
\n\tAlso during ITA regionals, sophomore Naomi Xu<\/a> made a run to the singles final to claim her spot at NCAAs.
\n\tThe Bears are led by interim head coach Kris Kwinta<\/a>, who is also in his fifth season at Cal as the Peter Wright Director of Men’s Tennis.
\n\tFormer Cal All-Americans Stephanie Kusano Wallace<\/a> and Jean Lozano are assistant coaches for the Bears. <\/p>\n

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\nScouting the Bruins<\/p>\n


\n\tUCLA beat No. 24 Central Florida 4-1 at the ITA Kickoff Weekend at LSU last Saturday before losing to the fifth-ranked Tigers 4-1 on Sunday
\n\tKate Fakih is ranked 75th in singles
\n\tHead coach Stella Sampras Webster is in her 30th season in charge of the Bruins <\/p>\n

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\nScouting the Trojans<\/p>\n


\n\tUSC plays at Stanford on Friday
\n\tThe Trojans beat Wisconsin 4-3 in the ITA Kickoff Weekend at Virginia on Friday before falling to the 14th-ranked Cavaliers 4-0 on Saturday
\n\tFive Trojans are ranked in singles: No. 12 Emma Charney, No. 16 Jana Hossam, No. 62 Eugenia Zozaya, No. 74 Krisha Mahendran and No. 95 Immi Haddad; in doubles, Dani Borruel and Lily Fairclough are ranked sixth, while Hossam and Mahendran are ranked 51st
\n\tAlison Swain is in her ninth season as USC’s head coach <\/p>\n

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\nLast Time Out
\nThe Bears hosted their annual Cal Winter Invitational to start the New Year, winning 19 of 25 matches in the tune-up event held Jan. 16-18 at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts. Cal singles All-American Berta Passola Folch<\/a> won both of her singles matches, including a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 result over Stanford’s 67th-ranked Monika Ekstrand. The Bears’ 80th-ranked Mao Mushika<\/a> (a doubles All-American) and Laura Cilekova<\/a> posted a 7-6(2) victory over Cal Poly’s Candela Aparisi and Natalie Lynch.
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\nNext Time
\nCal starts a stretch of five straight home matches when its hosts No. 21 Clemson on Feb. 20 and Georgia Tech on Feb. 21.
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\nStay Posted
\nFor further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Instagram (@CalWomensTennis<\/a>), X (@CalWomensTennis<\/a>) and Facebook (\/CalWomensTennis\/<\/a>).
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