Oct. 8, 2012

BERKELEY - California plays in two more tournaments this week, with some Golden Bears staying in the San Francisco Bay Area to play in the Battle in the Bay Classic and other players competing in the UCSB Classic. Both events take place from Friday, Oct. 12, through Sunday, Oct. 14.

The Bears playing in the Battle in the Bay Classic at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco are seniors Christoffer Konigsfeldt and Riki McLachlan, junior Campbell Johnson and freshman Mads Engsted. The Bears heading south for the UCSB Classic are sophomores Gregory Bayane, Nikhil Jayashankar, Chase Melton, Jack Sanford and Andrew Scholnick and freshmen Wyatt Houghton, Stuart Miller and Jordan Smith. The Gauchos will hold their tournament at the Harder Stadium Courts, Recreation Center and Robertson Gym Courts.

Last Time
Junior Ben McLachlan lost twice in singles at the ITA All-American Championships to cut short his campaign at the ITA All-American Championships on Oct. 4 at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

In the main draw, McLachlan lost to Kentucky's Tom Jomby, 7-6 (4), 6-3, which moved the Golden Bear to the consolation draw. In the back draw, McLachlan pushed Mississippi's Jonas Lutjen to three sets, but the junior fell, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Bears also competed in the Oct. 5-7 Aggie Invitational in Davis, Calif. It took three sets for Gregory Bayane to capture his first singles title of the season, as the Golden Bear beat Stanford's Jamin Ball, 6-1, 6-7, 6-0, in the Flight A final of the tournament on Oct. 7 at UC Davis. Bayane had earlier defeated San Francisco's third-seeded Bernard Saraiva, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals.

Also at the Aggie Invitational, in the Flight B singles round of 16, freshman Wyatt Houghton lost to Nevada's Ryan Andrada, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (1), 6-1. Cal's lone entrant in the Oct. 6 round-robin consolation singles round one, Andrew Scholnick lost to Pacific's Denis Stolyarov, 6-3, 6-1.

In Flight A Doubles, third-seeded Scholnick and Bayane beat Fresno State's Reid DeLaubenfels and Sam McNeil, 8-6, in the quarterfinals. But the Cal duo lost in the semifinals to the Saint Mary's doubles team of Jesse Kiuru and Joakim Norstrom, 8-3.

Also in doubles - in Flight B quarterfinals - Cal's top-seeded pair of Nikhil Jayashankar and Wyatt Houghton edged the Aggies' Brett Bacharach-George Horowicz, 9-7. But the Bears fell in the semis to Stanford's Maciek Romanowicz-Nolan Paige, 8-3.

In the Flight B doubles consolation draw, the pair of Jordan Smith and Stuart Miller lost to Sacramento State's Danny Diaz-Joaquin Marquez, 8-4.

Last Season at the Battle in the Bay Classic
The doubles team of then-freshman Chase Melton and senior Tommie Murphy fell, 8-2, to Stanford's duo of Walker Kehrer and Robert Stineman in the semifinal of the 2011 Battle in the Bay Classic at the California Tennis Club on Oct. 15. Three Bears - Ahmed Ismail, Riki McLachlan and Andrew Scholnick - reached the singles round of 16, while Melton fell in the consolation singles round of 16 to Saad Benkirane, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6).

In one of the longest matches of the day, then-junior McLachlan fell in three sets, 5-7, 7-6, 5-7, to Stanford's Daniel Ho. McLachlan forced Ho into a third set with a 7-5 win in the second-set tiebreaker, but was edged in the third.

Then-freshman Scholnick went up against third-seeded and No. 67 Clarke Spinosa of San Diego and was impressive as he split sets with the Torrero, by winning the second, 6-4, to avenge a 6-2 loss in the first. Spinosa stood fast in the final set to claim a 6-0 win and take the quarterfinal spot. Ismail, a senior, had his three-match winning streak snapped in a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Pepperdine's Hugh Clark.

Next Time
Cal plays in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships from Oct. 19-23 in Moraga, Calif.

A Golden Olympics for the Golden Bears
A total of 46 Golden Bear athletes, coaches and staff members represented Cal during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and together, they brought home a school-record-tying 17 medals (11 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze). The Bears have won 50 medals over the past three Olympics (16 in 2004, 17 in 2008, 17 in 2012), and they have captured 178 medals all-time (99 gold).

Cal No. 1 Public University in the Country
The University of California is the No. 1-ranked public university in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report. The faculty has won 22 Nobel Prizes, including nine current members, while 28 alumni have received a Nobel Prize. A National Research Council analysis of U.S. universities concluded that the campus has the largest number of highly ranked graduate programs in the country (48 of 52). Cal also has a long commitment to public service, with more than 4,000 students annually doing volunteer work and more than 3,000 Peace Corps participants all-time.