BERKELEY - It was fitting that California's two seniors clinched the Golden Bears' last two home matches of the season, with Klara Fabikova's court-two singles victory on Saturday sending the Bears to Tulsa and deeper into the NCAA Championship.
Fabikova clinched the 4-0 win over UC Santa Barbara in the NCAA round of 32 at the Hellman Tennis Complex, one day after Lynn Chi clinched the NCAA round of 64 win over UT Rio Grande Valley at Hellman. The 16th-ranked Fabikova beat Palina Dubavets, 6-2, 6-2, with the Cal veteran celebrating with her teammates afterwards.
“It was very emotional,” Fabikova said. “I was nervous. I didn't actually know that would happen to me – to have so many emotions now – but I'm just very happy with the way I was able to finish here. It was so much fun yesterday and today.”
“I'm really happy for them,” Cal junior Maegan Manasse said of the seniors clinching their last two home matches. “They've had such a great four years here. Klara had a couple tears of sadness but joy as well.”
Later in the day, Cal found out it would face 16th-seeded Texas Tech in the NCAA round of 16 on May 19 at 4 p.m. CT in Tulsa.
“It's really exciting,” Manasse said of advancing. “We've been looking forward to this the whole entire year. Thankfully we got through the first two rounds, but the next round is just like any other round in the tournament.”
On Saturday, while Cal won the two completed doubles matches, the Gauchos made the Bears work for the doubles point.
On court three, the pair of Chi and freshman Maria Smith beat Lou Adler and Amanda Atanasson, 6-3. When it looked like Cal would clinch on court one, such as when the fourth-ranked team of juniors Manasse and Denise Starr led the 22nd-ranked Dubavets and Stefani Stojic 5-2, the Gauchos fought back to tie the score at 5-5. Over on court two, Cal's 90th-ranked team of Fabikova and freshman Olivia Hauger took a 3-0 lead before Stephanie Yamada and Melissa Baker rallied to take a 4-3 lead.
But the Bears finally ended matters when Fabikova and Hauger won 6-4 on court two. The court-one match – with Cal leading 6-5 – went unfinished.
“UCSB came out with a lot of energy, and that was good preparation for us for the rest of the tournament,” Fabikova said. “I'm very happy that they pushed us, and we definitely had to make some adjustments. We had to be more aggressive and we got to work on our game, so I'm happy with how it went.”
In singles, the seventh-ranked Manasse fell behind the unranked Adler, 3-1, in the first set on court one. But the Pac-12 singles champion rebounded from that start and did not lose another game. Manasse wound up completing – and winning – the first singles match, 6-3, 6-0, to give Cal a 2-0 lead.
“Maegan's been hitting the ball better and better and working on rounding into form,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “They had a big load academically finishing up finals this week, so it's a chance to kind of reset and move forward. She made the adjustments she needed to, and at her position you always play the best player on every team, and I think she handles it well. It was good to see her really step up and focus. She won 11 games in a row. That just shows her focus and her consistency when she figured out the game plan. It was a good day.”
“Despite the first couple games, I think I adjusted pretty well and had a great match after that,” Manasse said.
Sophomore Karla Popovic made quick work of her opponent on court six yet again, beating Natalie Da Silveira, 6-1, 6-1, and the Bears led the Gauchos 3-0.
Chi looked to clinch for the second straight day when she took a 6-2, 5-2 lead over Stojic on court three. But fellow senior Fabikova finished first to send the Bears to the round of 16.
“Santa Barbara did a really good job of pushing us, and they're a much improved team that's well coached,” Augustus said. “They competed hard against us after a really long match yesterday, and I'm really proud of our team for stepping up and maintaining their focus and composure. Now we can book some flights to Tulsa and work on that next match in the tournament that we're very much looking forward to.”
NCAA Championship Round of 32
[1] No. 2 California (21-1) defeated No. 74 UC Santa Barbara (19-8) – 4-0
May 14, 2016, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. No. 4 Maegan Manasse/Denise Starr (Cal) vs. No. 22 Palina Dubavets/Stefani Stojic (UCSB) - 6-5 Abandoned
2. No. 90 Klara Fabikova/Olivia Hauger (Cal) def. Stephanie Yamada/Melissa Baker (UCSB) – 6-4
3. Lynn Chi/Maria Smith (Cal) def. Lou Adler/Amanda Atanasson (UCSB) – 6-3
Cal won the doubles point
Order of Finish – 3, 2
Singles
1. No. 7 Maegan Manasse (Cal) def. Lou Adler (UCSB) – 6-3, 6-0
2. No. 16 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. Palina Dubavets (UCSB) – 6-2, 6-2
3. No. 80 Lynn Chi (Cal) vs. Stefani Stojic (UCSB) – 6-2, 5-5 Abandoned
4. No. 88 Denise Starr (Cal) vs. Jaimee Gilbertson (UCSB) – 6-4, 2-2 Abandoned
5. Amanda Atanasson (UCSB) vs. Olivia Hauger (Cal) – 7-6(4) Abandoned
6. Karla Popovic (Cal) def. Natalie Da Silveira (UCSB) – 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish – 1, 6, 2
