FLUSHING, N.Y. – California's Denise Starr and Maegan Manasse improved to 10-1 on the season on Friday and on Saturday have a chance to make up for the lone blemish on their otherwise spotless doubles record. The top-seeded pair at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, the third-ranked Golden Bear duo takes on Kentucky's third-seeded and ninth-ranked Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi in the Saturday's semifinals at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The Wildcats defeated Manasse and Starr in the semifinals off the Oracle/ITA Masters in September. But the Bears have triumphed in every other match, including in Friday's indoor quarterfinal against USC's talented Giuliana Olmos and Gabby Smith. The Bears topped the Trojans – who beat Adachi and Sutjiadi to win the title at the Oracle/ITA Masters – 6-2, 6-2, on Friday.
In the second round of consolation doubles on Friday, the Cal team of senior Klara Fabikova and freshman Olivia Hauger fell to Columbia's Rima Asatarian and Alexandra Solovyev, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(5).
“Today was a good day,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “We definitely were happy to have Maegan and Denise advancing to the doubles semifinals, and Klara played a real good match today against a good player. We did a good job today.
“That USC team won the Oracle/ITA Masters championship, and we knew we had to come out and play aggressively against them. Maegan and Denise served well today and played very smart against them. We also did a good job of returning aggressively. We volleyed quite well. They're excited because tomorrow they'll have a rematch with the team from Kentucky that they lost to at the Oracle/ITA Masters.”
Manasse had a tough go of it in the singles sound of 16 at indoors. The third-ranked and second-seeded Cal junior lost to Vanderbilt's seventh-ranked Sydney Campbell, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
“Today Maegan played a real good first set, but Sydney Campbell did a good job of making adjustments,” Augustus said. “It was good for Maegan, who now has things to work on in her singles game. I know she'll work on those things and be ready to go the next time she competes in singles.”
In consolation singles, Fabikova defeated Armstrong State's Alejandra Cisneros, 6-4, 6-3, in the opening round of 16 to set up a meeting with Michigan's 19th-ranked Ronit Yurovsky in Saturday's quarterfinals. That is another rematch for Cal, as Fabikova lost to Yurovsky in the round of 16 at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in early October.
TEMPE, Ariz. – Lynn Chi won her first match of the season when the Cal senior bested the Sun Devils' Gussie O'Sullivan, 7-5, 6-3, on the first day of the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on Friday in the round of 16. The 2014 NCAA singles runner-up, second-seeded Chi had bye in the opening round of 32. The 39th-ranked Chi next faces Fresno State's Anneka Watts at 9:30 a.m. MT in Saturday's quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Cal sophomore Karla Popovic beat Lana Groenvynck of Texas, 6-2, 6-2, in the round of 32 but fell to ASU's Stephanie Vlad, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in the round of 16. Cal sophomore Lyann Hoang likewise prevailed in the opening round, beating ASU's Samantha Hampton, 6-0, 2-6, 7-6(5). But Hoang also lost in the round of 16, falling to Fresno State's third-seeded Sophie Watts, 6-2, 6-2.
Stephane Lin fell in the first round to Longhorn Neda Koprcina, 6-2, 6-1, while fellow Cal sophomore Audrey Mayer lost to ASU's top-seeded and 26th-ranked Desirae Krawczyk, 6-0, 6-0, in the round of 32.
In the Sparky Draw first-round consolation bracket round of 16, Mayer lost to Michigan's Kara Hall, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, while Lin beat Minnesota's Caroline Ryba, 7-5, 6-4. Lin's win set up a 9:30 a.m. MT match with Hall on Saturday.
Losing in the main draw round of 16 led Popovic to the Maroon second-round consolation bracket quarterfinals, in which she will play Michigan's Mira Ruder-Hook on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT. Hoang is also in the same bracket, and she'll face San Diego's Sophia Chow also at 11 a.m. MT on Saturday.
Mayer moved onto the Sparky first-round consolation back draw and will play Minnesota's Ryba in Saturday's quarterfinals at 11 a.m. MT.
In doubles at ASU, Chi and Popovic prevailed, 8-6, over USD's Drew Spinosa and Dana Oppinger, while Hoang and Lin lost to Northern Arizona's Hailey Rochin and Marta Lewandowska, 9-7. Mayer teamed up with NAU's Emelia Box, but the duo lost to the Texas pair of Groenvynck and Chelsea Crovetti, 8-2.
The three-day tournament ends on Sunday.
