I have a friend whose niece is on the Washington tennis team. She told my friend that "Cal is loaded" tthis year. I also recall readong that the men picked up a big time transfer for this season. Can someoine with real info re our tennis program please bring us up to date? Sure sounds promising.
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Last: 4 yr ago by Schroeder71
Good stuff, thanks
The Cal Winter Invitational gave us an updated glimpse of this year's team.
Everyone played (except Ivanov, who was in New Zealand and played in the WTA tourney there--she got a wildcard into the main draw). So that means the whole team is pretty healthy.
Quick impressions:
The team as a whole seemed rusty. Maybe the rains have limited their court time? Players would have good stretches followed by lulls. Perhaps no one showed this more than Richardson. I was really interested to see her play, as she didn't show much in the fall. She seemed slow (both in footspeed and reaction time) and did not look in great shape. But she got better by the third day, shaking off a bad first set to come back to win in three. Her groundies and serve gained more bite, and she showed a nice backhand drop shot. Cal is deep enough this year that they can afford to let Richardson round into form at the bottom of the ladder if need be. She played #5, which means she would have been #6 if Ivanov had played.
Rosenqvist looks to have bounced back some lackluster play this fall.
Giavara played #2 and looked good. For most matches (unless she plays top-20 types), Giavara should have control because of her big game. When she's on, she's blowing folks off the court. Or she sprays three shots in a row and falls behind.
Bright looked fine, doing her thing of playing a tight set where she loses her lead and then digs in at the end.
I didn't see Stloukalova play, but she looks in good shape.
In doubles, Augustus kept Bright/Giavara together, but otherwise tried a bunch of other combos. Rosenqvist/Richardson played well together; maybe they will be a pair.
Otherwise, I don't think any other pair distinguished themselves.
The Bears' next matches are going to be a good test. They travel to Kansas to participate in the early rounds of the ITA Fall Championships. They take on Virginia and then either Tennessee or Kansas. All the teams are currently in the top 25.
Everyone played (except Ivanov, who was in New Zealand and played in the WTA tourney there--she got a wildcard into the main draw). So that means the whole team is pretty healthy.
Quick impressions:
The team as a whole seemed rusty. Maybe the rains have limited their court time? Players would have good stretches followed by lulls. Perhaps no one showed this more than Richardson. I was really interested to see her play, as she didn't show much in the fall. She seemed slow (both in footspeed and reaction time) and did not look in great shape. But she got better by the third day, shaking off a bad first set to come back to win in three. Her groundies and serve gained more bite, and she showed a nice backhand drop shot. Cal is deep enough this year that they can afford to let Richardson round into form at the bottom of the ladder if need be. She played #5, which means she would have been #6 if Ivanov had played.
Rosenqvist looks to have bounced back some lackluster play this fall.
Giavara played #2 and looked good. For most matches (unless she plays top-20 types), Giavara should have control because of her big game. When she's on, she's blowing folks off the court. Or she sprays three shots in a row and falls behind.
Bright looked fine, doing her thing of playing a tight set where she loses her lead and then digs in at the end.
I didn't see Stloukalova play, but she looks in good shape.
In doubles, Augustus kept Bright/Giavara together, but otherwise tried a bunch of other combos. Rosenqvist/Richardson played well together; maybe they will be a pair.
Otherwise, I don't think any other pair distinguished themselves.
The Bears' next matches are going to be a good test. They travel to Kansas to participate in the early rounds of the ITA Fall Championships. They take on Virginia and then either Tennessee or Kansas. All the teams are currently in the top 25.
pearbear--thank you for your report! I was wondering if Ivanov was injured so I'm happy to find out that is not the case. Can you link that national tennis rankings? I don't even know if Cal is ranked. GO BEARS!
pearbear-thanks for the NCAA pre-season rankings. I actually think that Cal has potential be quite a bit higher than #17 in the nation I'm speculating but when two of your top players are freshmen, the Bears may need to prove their capabilities on the court.
https://calbears.com/news/2020/1/21/womens-tennis-no-17-cal-kicks-off-ita-tourney-vs-no-20-uva.aspx
It's obvious who the top four singles players should be [Ivanov, Giavara, Rosenqvist & Bright] based upon early performances and rankings. I would guess that senior, Katerina Stloukalova, would fill the fifth slot. It really seems "wide open" to me regarding the sixth spot. Cal has two doubles specialists in Jasie Dunk & Hana Mraz that have exhibited talent plus three others that have been inconsistent as singles players (Richardson, Nelson & Zeynel). All things being equal, I would prefer the frosh Richardson if she possesses the most upside potential. What do you think, pearbear, since you have eye witness accounts of their play to go by? I'm mostly following the stats although I watched a Cal-Stanford match last season on the Pac 12 Channel. I guess that this opening match against #20 Virginia should provide us with the coaching staff's thoughts for early 2020.
https://calbears.com/news/2019/12/3/womens-tennis-signs-bui-viller-m-ller.aspx
Any comments on the two 2020 signees, Jada Bui & Hannah Viller Moeller? Their respective ITA rankings are not particularly high but the Canadian sounds promising, don't you think? GO BEARS!
https://calbears.com/news/2020/1/21/womens-tennis-no-17-cal-kicks-off-ita-tourney-vs-no-20-uva.aspx
It's obvious who the top four singles players should be [Ivanov, Giavara, Rosenqvist & Bright] based upon early performances and rankings. I would guess that senior, Katerina Stloukalova, would fill the fifth slot. It really seems "wide open" to me regarding the sixth spot. Cal has two doubles specialists in Jasie Dunk & Hana Mraz that have exhibited talent plus three others that have been inconsistent as singles players (Richardson, Nelson & Zeynel). All things being equal, I would prefer the frosh Richardson if she possesses the most upside potential. What do you think, pearbear, since you have eye witness accounts of their play to go by? I'm mostly following the stats although I watched a Cal-Stanford match last season on the Pac 12 Channel. I guess that this opening match against #20 Virginia should provide us with the coaching staff's thoughts for early 2020.
https://calbears.com/news/2019/12/3/womens-tennis-signs-bui-viller-m-ller.aspx
Any comments on the two 2020 signees, Jada Bui & Hannah Viller Moeller? Their respective ITA rankings are not particularly high but the Canadian sounds promising, don't you think? GO BEARS!
Good questions Schroeder,
I was able to watch several matches during the recent Cal Winter Invite and my money for the final two single slots is on senior Stloukalova and freshman Richardson. It looks like Friday's ITA matches will be streamed so I may be able to watch a couple of the matches and find out the early season line-up.
Hard for me to forecast what kind of impact the two recent 2020-2021 additions will make. the Tennis Recruiting Network doesn't really cover international recruits.
From their WTA and ITF profiles I would guess Bui is a bit below Ivanova and Giavara, while Moller's profile is somewhat similar to Richardson
https://calbears.com/news/2020/1/24/womens-tennis-no-16-cal-falls-to-no-20-uva-4-1.aspx
Cal lost a competitive match to Virginia, 4-1, on Friday afternoon. Tomorrow the Bears will face hometown Kansas in the loser's bracket.
Cal lost a competitive match to Virginia, 4-1, on Friday afternoon. Tomorrow the Bears will face hometown Kansas in the loser's bracket.
Noticed former Bear Vivian Glozman now plays for Virginia. Any reason why she left to go East. She had 1 of the wins for the Cavaliers!
I noticed that as well and I recalled how I wondered what had happened after Glozman, from Bellevue, Washington had left the program after a very strong 2017 freshman campaign with fellow top recruit Anna Bright.OBear073akaSMFan said:
Noticed former Bear Vivian Glozman now plays for Virginia. Any reason why she left to go East. She had 1 of the wins for the Cavaliers!
Glozman's recruitment to Cal was a little strange as she was originally committed to UNC before turning up in Berkeley. She certainly appears to favor public schools with strong academic reputations.
I have no insight into her reasoning re transferring, but Berkeley isn't for everyone.
Today in another women's sport, women's swimming, the #2 ranked Cal women soundly defeated ASU. But the Devils got a win from a former Cal swimmer, Cierra Runge who first transferred to Wisconsin from Cal before ending up at ASU.
Bears have now started Pac-12 play. (Reminder that a quirk of college tennis is that often Pac-12 teams play each other early in the season too--in the non-conference slate).
So Cal had a rematch with UCLA on Friday. Bears had gotten swept 7-0 in LA last month, but did better this time, losing 4-3. UCLA is a powerhouse this year. Their top 3 players--Bolton, Forbes, and Hart--all could play #1. Very few teams have that kind of depth at the top. And their doubles are very solid.
All three Cal wins were impressive results. Richardson won easily in straight sets at #5. She looks in better shape than in the fall. I think she will help anchor our bottom of the lineup this season.
Giavara is just really fun to watch. With her big game, she's never really out of a match. She came from behind in both sets and just went for her shots on the big points. Very good win over Bolton at #1.
Ivanov has the kind of game you appreciate better when you watch person. She just controls her shots: even when she seems to hit them late, they don't really allow her opponent to attack very often. Hart was either slamming winners or losing long rallies with errors. Ivanov's serve is also better than it was in the fall; even though she did get broken when serving for the match, she still pulled it out in three (after UCLA had already clinched the overall match 4-2).
Against USC, Cal finally pulled out a doubles point and then just built from there. It seems that USC is without two of their starters from earlier this season, but it's still a good win for Cal. Bears ran out to 6-0 lead, with only Giavara falling at #1 to Kulikov 7-5 in the third. Giavara was down the whole way in the third, then made her push to get back to 5-5. Credit Kulikov for winning that match, playing brave at the end--serving and volleying against Giavara's power.
Some concerns: I don't know why Stloukova did not play, but Zeynel showed she's capable at #6, earning a split. Bright and Rosenqvist still don't look in form yet; it was painful to watch Rosenqvist's backhand break down on pressure points. And I do think Cal still could do better at doubles: none of the current combos seem a homerun at this point.
But all in all, it was a good weekend for Cal, who finally looks like they're on the way to being team they should be.
So Cal had a rematch with UCLA on Friday. Bears had gotten swept 7-0 in LA last month, but did better this time, losing 4-3. UCLA is a powerhouse this year. Their top 3 players--Bolton, Forbes, and Hart--all could play #1. Very few teams have that kind of depth at the top. And their doubles are very solid.
All three Cal wins were impressive results. Richardson won easily in straight sets at #5. She looks in better shape than in the fall. I think she will help anchor our bottom of the lineup this season.
Giavara is just really fun to watch. With her big game, she's never really out of a match. She came from behind in both sets and just went for her shots on the big points. Very good win over Bolton at #1.
Ivanov has the kind of game you appreciate better when you watch person. She just controls her shots: even when she seems to hit them late, they don't really allow her opponent to attack very often. Hart was either slamming winners or losing long rallies with errors. Ivanov's serve is also better than it was in the fall; even though she did get broken when serving for the match, she still pulled it out in three (after UCLA had already clinched the overall match 4-2).
Against USC, Cal finally pulled out a doubles point and then just built from there. It seems that USC is without two of their starters from earlier this season, but it's still a good win for Cal. Bears ran out to 6-0 lead, with only Giavara falling at #1 to Kulikov 7-5 in the third. Giavara was down the whole way in the third, then made her push to get back to 5-5. Credit Kulikov for winning that match, playing brave at the end--serving and volleying against Giavara's power.
Some concerns: I don't know why Stloukova did not play, but Zeynel showed she's capable at #6, earning a split. Bright and Rosenqvist still don't look in form yet; it was painful to watch Rosenqvist's backhand break down on pressure points. And I do think Cal still could do better at doubles: none of the current combos seem a homerun at this point.
But all in all, it was a good weekend for Cal, who finally looks like they're on the way to being team they should be.
nice analysis, PB
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