WACO, Texas – California women's tennis All-American Katja Wiersholm lost in the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16 on Thursday at Baylor to end the Golden Bears' fall postseason campaign. Thirty-third-ranked Wiersholm – who became an All-American on Wednesday when she advanced to the round of 16 – fell to Auburn's 32nd-ranked DJ Bennett 7-6(5), 6-3 at the Hurd Tennis Center.
 
Thus ends the first half of the season for the Bears, who had four student-athletes – seniors Wiersholm, Lan Mi and Jessica Alsola, and sophomore Mao Mushika – compete at the NCAA individual championships, with Cal tying for the most entrants (3) in NCAA singles. The Bears gained valuable experience in the postseason, with Mi and Mushika playing in singles for the first time and claiming first-round victories, and Wiersholm posting the deepest individual NCAA run of her career.
 
Alsola and Mushika – who had each played in previous NCAA Doubles Championship with different partners – earned more playing time together in their first season as a doubles pair by reaching the national tournament at Baylor.
 
"We've had a great fall overall as a team," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "We had three Bears reach the NCAA singles second round. Lan's really improved a ton in the year and a half she's been with us. She qualified for NCAAs and was very close to being an All-American. She had a fantastic tournament. Mao had a great win on the first day as well, played in doubles with Jessica and has now played at the individual NCAAs three times. Katja earning All-America status yesterday was awesome. That's part of the tradition of our program – qualifying multiple Bears for NCAAs and doing well here.
 
"We had other Bears who were very, very close to advancing to NCAAs and just missed, so I think we'll be well represented when the end of the fall rankings come out. Overall, I was quite pleased with our postseason and how we did this fall."

The Bears start the dual-match season in January.

NCAA Singles Championship – Cal Results
Nov. 21 2024, in Waco, Texas
Hurd Tennis Center
 
Singles Round of 16
No. 32 DJ Bennett (Auburn) def. No. 33 Katja Wiersholm (Cal), 7-6(5), 6-3
 
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