BERKELEY – The California women's tennis team shook off some rust to win all eight of its singles matches on the first day of the Cal Winter Invitational on Friday, under sunny but chilly skies at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts.
 
The 17th-ranked Karla Popovic dominated Cal Poly's Susanne Boyden, 6-1, 6-1, on court two. The Cal junior was playing for the first time since competing for the singles title in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in early November in New York.
 
Cal senior Stephane Lin posted the first victory of the day, topping the Mustangs' Celine Gruaz, 6-2, 6-0, on court six, with Maya Jansen then collecting her first win at Hellman with another 6-2, 6-0 result over Cal Poly's Abigail Bacharach on court four.
 
The Bears did not lose a set in the morning round of singles against the Mustangs, as sophomore Olivia Hauger bested Seriana Saltzen, 6-4, 6-2, on court three, 49th-ranked senior Maegan Manasse beat Louise Oxnevad, 6-3, 6-0, on court one and sophomore Maria Smith closed out the round with a 6-3, 7-6(4), triumph over Molly Reed on court five.
 
The Bears soon returned to the Hellman courts for doubles. Manasse and Jansen, paired together for the first time, captured their match on court one, 6-1, over Fresno State's 50th-ranked team of Katerina Stloukalova and Georgia Lawson, 6-1.
 
But the Bears dropped their other three doubles matches, with another new pair in Hauger and freshman Alexis Nelson falling, 6-4, to FSU's Olivia Noble/Juliane Triebe on court two, the 40th-ranked duo of Smith and Starr losing to the Bulldogs' Emma Wilson/Galina Bykova, 6-0, on court three, and the team of Lin and junior Audrey Mayer posting a 6-4 loss to Fresno State's Ndindi Ndunda/Abbey Watanabe on court four.
 
Later in the afternoon at the Channing, Nelson bested Ndunda in singles, 6-4, 7-5, and then Mayer rallied for a 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Watanabe to end the day for the Bears
 
"It was just good for them to get back out on the courts again," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "Everyone was a little bit rusty. A lot of them haven't had match play since a couple months ago. It was to be expected. They probably had even less doubles practice. I'm more looking forward to what tomorrow looks like after playing today. I saw some good things out of everyone. It's always good to get a day of matches under your belt."
 
The three-day Cal Winter Invitational resumes at 10 a.m. on Saturday with singles at Hellman.