BERKELEY – The eighth-seeded and eighth-ranked California men's tennis team (18-7) begins the 2017 NCAA Championship on Friday when it hosts Tennessee Tech (13-6) at 1 p.m. in the first round at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Prior to the Golden Bears and Golden Eagles' match, 21st-ranked Northwestern (21-10) and 45th-ranked Utah State (23-8) open the day with a first-round match starting at 10 a.m. at Hellman.
 
The first-round winners advance to play in Saturday's NCAA second round/round of 32 at 3 p.m. at Hellman, with that victor advancing to the round of 16 at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia. Georgia will also host the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships after the team tournament concludes with the final on May 23.
 
Under head coach Peter Wright, Cal has now reached the NCAA team tournament 18 consecutive times, with the Bears claiming 36 overall berths to the NCAA team tournament. Cal has compiled a 10-3 home record this season, including a three-match winning streak at Hellman – capped by the April 22 Big Slam – to end the regular season.
 
Cal has never played Tennessee Tech nor Utah State in men's tennis. The Bears have a 4-0 all-time record against Northwestern.
 
Hellman Ticket Information
Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for youth/students/seniors and can only be purchased the day of the matches.

Hellman Live Stream/Bears on Twitter
Fans can watch the matches on Cal's free live stream available by clicking here and can also follow the action from Hellman on Twitter from @CalMensTennis.
 
Poll Position
In the second-to-last Oracle/ITA Rankings of the season, Cal moved up to No. 8 in the team poll. In the individual rankings, senior Florian Lakat is ranked 12th, senior Andre Goransson is ranked 61st and junior Billy Griffith is ranked 81st. In doubles, Lakat and senior Filip Bergevi are ranked fifth, while Goransson and Griffith are ranked 74th.
 
Seniors Heading to NCAA Individual Championships
Florian Lakat, Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson are headed back to the individual postseason tournaments, as the NCAA announced May 3 that the Cal seniors are at-large entrants to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in Athens. The individual tournaments will take place May 24-29 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
 
By virtue of their seeding (5-8) in the doubles tournament, Lakat and Bergevi earned All-America honors. Lakat likewise earned All-America status as a seeded player (9-16) in the singles tournament, in which he will join Goransson for the latter's third time in the singles postseason. This is Lakat's second consecutive berth in the NCAA Singles Championship, and it's the second straight entry for Lakat and Bergevi in NCAA doubles.

NCAA Lauds Bears For APR
Cal men's tennis was one of a record-seven Cal teams to earn NCAA Public Recognition Awards for their exceptional results in the classroom. Each of the seven – men's tennis, women's tennis, women's golf, women's gymnastics, lacrosse, volleyball and men's water polo – posted a perfect multiyear Academic Progress Rate of 1,000. Cal's seven recognized programs ties for the second most in the Pac-12.
 
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance. The most recent APRs are multiyear rates based on scores from the 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years.
 
Last Time Out: Bears Fall in Pac-12 Semifinals
Cal ended its run in the recent Pac-12 Championship with a 4-1 loss to eventual conference champ USC on April 28 in Ojai, California. Filip Bergevi won at court-three singles for the Golden Bears, with the senior defeating Logan Smith, 6-4, 6-2.
 
Scouting Cal

• A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week this season, the 12th-ranked Florian Lakat improved his singles record to 19-10 after beating Tom Fawcett to clinch the April 22 Big Slam; Lakat is also 12-7 on court one
• Lakat garnered Pac-12 Player of the Week on Feb. 20 and on April 17, when he was lauded for winning twice in singles and twice in doubles in Cal's conference wins at Oregon and Washington
• Andre Goransson beat Stanford's Sameer Kumar, 6-4, 6-2, in the Big Slam; he's 24-11 in singles and his court-two record is 10-7
• Goransson was named the March 27 Pac-12 Player of the Week for his play in Cal's wins over Yale and Illinois
• Goransson beat teammate Filip Bergevi for the singles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships last fall in Berkeley
• Doubles champs at the Saint Francis Health System All-American Championships in the fall, Lakat and Bergevi have posted a 21-6 doubles record, including a 13-4 record on court one; the duo – which also earned All-America honors last season – clinched the doubles point against Stanford with a 7-6(2), court-one win over 61st-ranked Tom Fawcett and Yale Goldberg in the Big Slam
• In singles, Billy Griffith has a 24-8 record, including a 14-6 dual-match record; that includes records of 7-4 on court three and 5-2 on court four
• Bergevi is 18-9 in singles; he's also 3-2 on court four, on which the senior clinched the 4-3 win over Illinois with a 7-5, 7-6(6) win over Julian Childers on March 25
• Freshman Bjorn Hoffmann has a 20-14 singles record, including a 12-3 tournament record
• J.T. Nishimura has an 11-5 record, including 6-4 on court 5 and 3-1 on court six
• The 74th-ranked Goransson and Griffith have an 19-8 doubles record, including a 10-4 court-two record
• Hoffmann and Nishimura have an 12-9 doubles record; they improved to 9-8 on court three with a 6-4 win over Stanford's Brandon Sutter and David Wilczynski in the Big Slam
• Two proud Cal alumni lead the Golden Bears: 2016 Pac-12 Coach of the Year Peter Wright (class of '91) is in his 24th year as head coach, while associate head coach Tyler Browne (class of 2008) is in his 10th year on the staff

Scouting Tennessee Tech

• Beat Eastern Kentucky, 4-0, to win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and the OVC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament
• TTU's 58th-ranked junior Eduardo Mena (22-5 in singles, 17-2 at court 1) earned the OVC's automatic berth to the NCAA Singles Championship
• Mena earned the OVC Player of the Year award and a spot alongside teammates Marcos Bernardes and Alberto Esteban on the All-OVC First Team
• Kenny Doyle is in his eighth year as head coach of the Golden Eagles

Scouting Northwestern

• The Wildcats, who were 7-4 in the Big Ten, earned an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament
• In singles, NU's Strong Kirchheimer – who'll play in the NCAA Singles Championship – is ranked 37th and Konrad Zieba is ranked 67th
• Kirchheimer and Dominik Stary are ranked 53rd in doubles, while Zieba and Sam Shropshire are ranked 80th
• Arvid Swan is in his 10th year as Northwestern's head coach

Scouting Utah State

• Utah State beat UNLV, 4-0, to claim the Mountain West Conference tournament title and the MWC's automatic berth to NCAAs
• The Aggies are competing in their first NCAA team tournament and also played in their first ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship in February
• USU has a 1-3 record against the Pac-12 Conference this season, with a 4-3 win over Arizona and losses to Washington (6-1), Oregon (4-3) and USC (5-0)
• James Wilson is in his first season as the Aggies' head coach

Last Time at NCAAs
Cal's deepest run into the postseason in 25 years came to an end on May 23, 2016, when the 13th-seeded/ranked Golden Bears lost to the top-seeded/ranked Virginia Cavaliers, 4-0, in the NCAA semifinals at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
 
The Bears had beaten two top-five seeds in No. 4 TCU and No. 5 Ohio State in Tulsa to get to the semifinals, but they ran across a truly challenging opponent in the defending champions. Cal finished the team portion of its season with a 21-7 record, while UVa went on to repeat as NCAA champ.
 
Cal History at NCAAs
Cal's best finish the NCAA team tournament was second place, which the Bears accomplished in 1950, 1952 and 1953. Cal has won two NCAA singles titles, with E.G. "Bud" Chandler winning the crown in 1925 and 1926.
 
The following pairs won nine NCAA doubles titles for the Bears: Gervais Hillis/Gerald Stratford (1925), E.G. Chandler/Bud Stow (1926), Dolf Muehleisen/Robert Muench (1930), Paul Newton/Richard Bennett (1935, 1937), Doug Imhoff/Robert Peacock (1939), Clif Mayne/Hugh Ditzler (1952), Doug Eisenman/Matt Lucena (1990) and Matt Lucena/Bent-Ove Pederson (1991).
 
Next Time
If the Bears win in the first two rounds at Hellman, the Cal team would join Bergevi, Goransson and Lakat in Athens.