BERKELEY – Thirteenth-seeded California begins its last weekend of the season at the Hellman Tennis Complex when the 13th-ranked Golden Bears (17-5) host San Jose State (14-7) in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday at 12 p.m. Hellman will also host the first-round (or round of 64) match between 21st-ranked LSU (14-10) and 40th-ranked Tulsa (20-7) that starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
 
The first-round winners will play in a second-round match on Sunday at 12 p.m. for the right to advance to the NCAA's round of 16 and beyond at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia. The team tournament ends with the final on May 23.
 
The Bears have appeared in every NCAA team tournament, spanning 35 postseasons from 1982-2016. This is the 12th consecutive season that Cal will be hosting opening NCAA matches, including the first and second rounds from 2008-15 and regionals from 2006-07.
 
Hellman Ticket Info
Tickets at Hellman 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 the free Hellman live stream available here and can also follow the matches on Twitter @CalWomensTennis.
 
Poll Position
Cal moved up three spots to No. 13 from the previous Oracle/ITA Rankings. In singles, junior Karla Popovic is ranked 10th, senior Maegan Manasse is ranked 34th and senior Denise Starr is ranked 123rd. The pair of Manasse and Maya Jansen is ranked 34th, while Popovic and sophomore Olivia Hauger are ranked 55th in doubles.
 
Popovic, Manasse and Jansen Punch Tickets to Athens
Karla Popovic, Maegan Manasse and Maya Jansen have already garnered trips to Athens later this month to play in the NCAA individual tournaments. The pair of Manasse and Jansen will play in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship, while Popovic and Manasse are among the 64 players who will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The individual tournaments run May 24-29, after the conclusion of the NCAA team tournament in Athens.
 
As one of eight singles players seeded 9-16, Popovic – who earned invitations to the NCAA individual tournaments for the first time – earns All-American status.
 
NCAA Lauds Bears For APR
Cal women'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 – women's tennis, men'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: Cal Falls to Stanford in Pac-12 Final
Karla Popovic won at court-two singles to tie the Pac-12 Championship final at 1-1 on April 29, but second-seeded Cal didn't win another match as top-seeded Stanford prevailed 4-1 in Ojai, California, to capture the first conference tournament team title. The match ended when Cal senior Maegan Manasse lost to Stanford's 41st-ranked Caroline Doyle, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, on court one.
 
The then-13th-ranked Popovic beat the Cardinal's 26th-ranked Melissa Lord, 6-3, 6-3.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Karla Popovic improved to 38-4 in singles by going 2-1 – including a 6-1, 6-2 win over Washington's Miki Kobayashi – in the recent Pac-12 tournament
• Popovic, who began the 2016-17 season 21-0, was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Feb. 27 for winning twice in singles and twice in doubles in Cal's 6-1 victories over UCLA on Feb. 24 and USC on Feb. 25
• Against the Bruins, Popovic upset the second-ranked Ena Shibahara, 6-3, 6-3, and the next day she defeated the Trojans' 33rd-ranked Gabby Smith, 7-6(5), 6-1
• In the fall, Popovic won the singles title and paired with Olivia Hauger to capture the doubles crown at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships; the Cal duo has a 23-6 doubles record
• Maegan Manasse (15-7 in singles) upset UW's 29^th-ranked Stacey Fung, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals
• Manasse, the April Pac-12 Player of the Week, closed the regular season with a 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) come-from-behind, upset win over Stanford's 41st-ranked Caroline Doyle in the Big Slam
• Denise Starr, a two-time All-American in doubles, improved to 21-12 in singles by going 2-1 at Pac-12s; that included wins over Washington's Nour Abbes, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, and USC's Zoë Katz, 6-2, 7-6
• Sophomore Olivia Hauger is 25-9 in singles, including 9-4 on court four
• Hauger has clinched wins a team-high seven times for Cal this season; that included her 6-3, 6-0 win over Victoria Matejevic that decided an eventual 7-0 rout of Washington State on Senior Day
• Hauger collected the March 20 Pac-12 Player of the Week accolade for her play in Cal's wins over Arizona and Arizona State
• Jansen, a two-time NCAA champion in doubles, and Manasse – an NCAA doubles runner-up last season – improved to 13-5 with two wins in the Pac-12 tournament; the duo beat USC's Katz and Gabby Smith, 6-4, to clinch the doubles point in the semifinals
• In singles, Jansen has a 21-8 record, including 11-2 on court five; she clinched Cal's win over the Trojans in Ojai with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Angela Kulikov
• Jansen earned the Pac-12 Player of the Week honor on Feb. 13 for her play at the ITA National Women's Team Indoor championship
• Sophomore Maria Smith improved to 28-13 in singles with wins over Washington's Katarina Kopcalic, 6-1, 7-5, and USC's Sydney Van Alphen, 7-6, 6-0, in Ojai
• Smith was named the Athletic Study Center Scholar-Athlete of the Week honor for the week of Feb. 6-10
• Cal alumna Amanda Augustus (class of 1999) was named the 2016 Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year and was a two-time NCAA doubles champion in her playing days in Berkeley; she is in her 10th season as head coach of the Bears
• Zack Warren in in his third year as the Cal women's tennis assistant coach

Scouting SJSU

• The Spartans beat UNLV, 4-0, to win the Mountain West Conference tournament title and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament
• San Jose State is 0-1 against the Pac-12 this year with a 7-0 loss to Stanford
• Senior Marie Klocker and junior Sybylle Gauvain earned All-MWC honors in both singles and doubles
• Chad Skorupka – the MWC Coach of the Year – is in his second year as the Spartans' head coach

Scouting LSU

• LSU, which lost to eventual conference champ Vanderbilt in the SEC quarterfinals, is an at-large entrant to NCAAs
• The 11th-ranked Jade Lewis and 46th-ranked Joana Valle Costa earned invites to the NCAA Singles Championship
• The 16th-ranked pair of Valle Costa and Ryann Foster is headed to the NCAA Doubles Championship
• Foster is also ranked 105th in singles
• Julia Sell and Michael Sell are in their fourth year as co-head coaches at LSU

Scouting Tulsa

• The Hurricane is another at-large team playing in the NCAAs at Hellman this weekend
• Dobby Leenabonchong was named the American Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year; Leenabonchong and Ksenia Laskutova also earned All-AAC honors
• Tulsa is 1-0 against the Pac-12 this year, as the Hurricane beat Utah, 4-0
• Dean Orford is in his 10th year as Tulsa's head coach

Last Time at NCAAs: Manasse/Starr Reach Final After Bears Reach Team Semis
Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr capped a tremendous season for Cal with a runner-up finish in the 2016 NCAA Doubles Championship on May 30 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The fourth-seeded Cal stars fell to Florida's third-seeded Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, 6-2, 6-0, in the final. The Bears beat several talented pairs – including North Carolina's top-seeded Haley Carter and Whitney Kay in the semifinals, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(7) – on their way to the final.
 
Manasse also produced Cal's best finish in the NCAA Singles Championship, as she reached the round of 16.
 
Earlier in Tulsa, the top-seeded Cal squad reached its first NCAA team semifinals since 2009, which was Amanda Augustus' second year as head coach. The Bears fell in an upset to 12th-seeded Oklahoma State, 4-3, indoors in the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
 
Cal's NCAA History
Cal has reached the NCAA team final and finished as the national runner-up three times, including in both of Amanda Augustus' first two seasons – 2008 and 2009 – as Cal head coach. Cal also played in the 1980 final. Including the 2008 and 2009 finals, the Bears have advanced to at least the NCAA round of 16 in nine straight seasons, which included the first eight of Augustus' years as head coach.
 
The Bears have won two NCAA singles championships and five NCAA doubles titles, with Augustus and Amy Jensen capturing back-to-back doubles crowns in 1998 and 1999. Jensen threepeated by winning the 2000 doubles title with Claire Curran, Raquel Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano won the 2003 championship, and Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova took home the 2009 doubles crown. In singles, Juricova captured the 2011 championship, with Suzi Babos winning Cal's first NCAA singles title in 2006.
 
Next Time
Should Cal win both matches this weekend, the Bears would join Jansen, Manasse and Popovic in Athens.