March 19, 2013

Sunday, March 24
11 a.m. PT/1 p.m. CT - No. 24 Cal (7-6) vs. No. 36 TCU (10-4)
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center - Fort Worth, Texas
Series Record vs. TCU: 4-1
Last Time vs. TCU: W, 5-2 (3/27/06 in Fort Worth, Texas)
Coverage: Live Stats, @CalMensTennis Twitter

BERKELEY - California wraps up its nonconference schedule in Texas, starting on Sunday, March 24, as the 24th-ranked Golden Bears play No. 36 TCU at 11 a.m. PT Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth. Cal brings a 7-6 record to the Lone Star State. TCU currently has a 10-4 record, prior to a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 20.

Scouting the Bears
• Cal is coming off a tough 4-3 loss to No. 12 Pepperdine on March 16 at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley
• The Bears have a 2-1 record against common opponents with TCU, including a 4-3 win over Michigan on Jan. 26, a 5-2 victory over Stanford on Feb. 24 and a 4-3 loss to Pepperdine on March 16
• The Bears start Pac-12 play after the trip to Texas, beginning with a March 29 match vs. UCLA and a March 30 match vs. USC in Berkeley
• The Bears boast three players ranked in singles by the ITA: No. 47/junior Campbell Johnson, No. 57/junior Ben McLachlan and No. 63/senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt
• Cal features the following ranked doubles teams: No. 33 Johnson/Konigsfeldt, No. 42 B. McLachlan/senior Riki McLachlan and No. 45 freshman Mads Engsted/B. McLachlan
• Konigsfeldt and Riki McLachlan are Cal's co-captains
• Peter Wright is in his 20th year as head coach at Cal

Scouting the Horned Frogs
• Texas Christian has a three-match winning streak, prior to home matches on March 20 against Prairie View A&M and Columbia
• Against its common opponents with Cal, TCU has a 1-2 record, with a 4-3 loss at Michigan on Jan. 19, a 5-2 win at Stanford on Feb. 5 and a 5-2 loss to Pepperdine on Feb. 26 at home
• TCU has a Pac-12 connection in senior JT Sundling, who played his freshman and sophomore seasons at USC
• David Roditi is in his third year as head coach of TCU

Last Time
Sixteenth-ranked California pushed 12th-ranked Pepperdine to the brink before falling, 4-3, to the Waves on March 16 at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Tied at 3-3, the Golden Bears had a chance to claim victory at court two, where Christoffer Konigsfeldt played Pepperdine's Finn Tearney. But the 63rd-ranked Konigsfeldt lost to the 83rd-ranked Tearney, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, to clinch the match for the Waves.

The day got off to a good start, as the 45th-ranked team of Ben McLachlan and Mads Engsted beat Pepperdine's Sebastian Fanselow/Alex Sarkissian, 8-4, on court two in doubles. On court three, Cal sophomores Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton dropped their match to David Sofaer and Mousheg Hovhannisyan, 8-5, leaving the court one match to decide the doubles point. The 33rd-ranked team of Konigsfeldt and Campbell Johnson didn't disappoint, as the Bears toppled No. 47 Finn Tearney/Francis Alcantara, 8-3, to clinch the point for Cal.

In singles, Sofaer knocked off Cal sophomore Nikhil Jayashankar, 6-1, 6-3, on court six to tie the overall match at 1-1. But the 57th-ranked McLachlan reclaimed the lead for Cal at 2-1 after upsetting No. 11 Fanselow, 6-2, 6-3, on court one. The back and forth match became knotted up at 2-2 when No. 107 Sarkissian defeated Bayane, 6-4, 7-5, on court four, before the 47th-ranked Johnson outlasted No. 53 Alcantara in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, on court three to give Cal the lead at 3-2.

On court five, Engsted pushed senior counterpart Hovhannisyan to a first-set tiebreaker before falling 7-6(10), and the Wave won 6-1 in the second set to tie the match at 3-3, leaving the court two result to decide the winner.

This marked the fourth time in the Bears' last six matches that they played to a 4-3 result.

Next Time
Cal concludes its stay in Texas with a match at No. 29 Baylor on March 26 at 11 a.m. PT/1 p.m. CT in Waco.