BERKELEY ? With an eye toward a big tournament later this week, California welcomed the USTA Junior National Team to the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts for an exhibition on Wednesday. In their lone match in Berkeley this fall, the Golden Bears defeated the USTA squad, 9-3.
Wednesday featured the debut of Florian Lakat at Hellman, as the 6-4 junior paired with junior Filip Bergevi to win in doubles and later won at No. 2 singles. The Cal pair, playing on court one or Newmark Stadium Court, defeated Oliver Crawford and Brandon Holt, 6-4. ?Cal won three out of four doubles matches. The USTA juniors posted a 6-1 victory on court four (Savides Sullivan Court), with Cal senior Jordan Smith and freshman Ryan Shen falling to Zeke Clark and Brian Shi.
The USTA juniors won two singles matches at the Channing Tennis Courts, but Cal swept all six singles matches at Hellman to complete the 9-3 score. The clinching victory came on court six (Walter A. Haas, Jr. Court), on which Cal senior Wyatt Houghton overcame a first-set loss to Danny Thomas ?to win the match in three, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4.
The Bears will see the USTA juniors again soon, as both teams will play in the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic taking place Friday through Sunday at the Meadowood Napa Valley Resort in St. Helena, California. Cal head coach Peter Wright is the co-founder of the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic, and Cal is the host of the tournament, which includes Stanford, Princeton, Texas, Florida and Baylor.
“It's great for our guys to have a competitive match before getting to Napa,” Wright said.
California def. USTA Junior National Team ? 9-3
Sept. 23, 2015, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex & Channing Tennis Courts
Doubles at Hellman
1. Filip Bergevi/Florian Lakat (Cal) def. Oliver Crawford/Brandon Holt (USTA Juniors) ? 6-4
2. Mads Engsted/J.T. Nishimura (Cal) def. John McNally/J.J. Wolf (USTA Juniors) ? 6-3
3. Billy Griffith/Wyatt Houghton (Cal) def. William Howells/Danny Thomas (USTA Juniors) ? 6-1
4. Zeke Clark/Brian Shi (USTA Juniors) def. Ryan Shen/Jordan Smith (Cal) ? 6-1
Singles at Hellman
1. Filip Bergevi (Cal) def. J.J. Wolf (USTA Juniors) ? 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-6(3)
2. Florian Lakat (Cal) def. John McNally (USTA Juniors) ? 6-3, 6-3
3. Billy Griffith (Cal) def. Oliver Crawford (USTA Juniors) ? 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1
4. J.T. Nishimura (Cal) def. Zeke Clark (USTA Juniors) ? 7-5, 6-3
5. Mads Engsted (Cal) def. Brandon Holt (USTA Juniors) ? 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
6. Wyatt Houghton (Cal) def. Danny Thomas (USTA Juniors) ? 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4
Singles at Channing
7. Willam Howells (USTSA Juniors) def. Ryan Shen (Cal) ? 6-3, 7-5
8. Danny Thomas (USTA Juniors) def. Jordan Smith (Cal) ? 6-0, 6-0
