The seventh-ranked California women's tennis team (4-0, 2-0 ACC) is back at the Hellman Tennis Complex this week to host ACC matches against No. 27 NC State on Friday and No. 73 Wake Forest on Saturday.
 
The Golden Bears have posted all four of their wins at Hellman and are winding down a seven-match homestand that concludes with a March 8 match against Pepperdine.
 
Vs. No. 27 NC State (7-4, 0-0 ACC)
1:30 p.m. PT, Friday, Feb. 27
Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
Live stream PlaySight
Live scores StatInput
Admission Free
 
Vs. No. 73 Wake Forest (7-4, 0-0 ACC)
Noon p.m. PT, Saturday, Feb. 28
Hellman Tennis Complex, Berkeley, Calif.
Live stream PlaySight
Live scores StatInput
Admission Free
 
Berta Passola Folch Named ACC Player Of The Week
Berta Passola Folch was named the ACC Player of the Week for leading the Golden Bears to conference-opening wins over Clemson and Georgia Tech last week, the conference announced Tuesday. This marked Passola Folch's first ACC weekly honor and the first for the Bears this season. The Spaniard won twice in singles and doubles as the then-No. 12 Bears defeated the No. 21 Tigers 4-1 on Friday and No. 59 Yellow Jackets 4-0 on Saturday at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
Poll Position
Cal is ranked No. 7 in this week's ITA poll. In this week's Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) poll, the Bears are ranked sixth. In the current ITA singles poll, four Bears are ranked: No. 13 Berta Passola Folch (21-5), No. 55 Mao Mushika (12-6), No. 74 Johanne Svendsen (3-0) and No. 93 Naomi Xu (6-6).
 
Scouting the Bears

• Danish freshman Johanne Svendsen – who made her Cal debut in January – boasts career-best WTA rankings of 361 in singles and 516 in doubles; she is currently ranked 604th in singles and 871st in doubles.
• Svendsen has extensive experience playing for her country in the Billie Jean King Cup, competing in tournaments between 2022 and 2025.
• Berta Passola Folch capped an impressive fall season when the Cal senior reached the final of the NCAA Singles Championship in the first national individual tournament of her career and earned her first All-America honor along the way.
• The Spaniard qualified for NCAAs by advancing to the semifinals at the ITA West Sectional Championships in Seattle.
• Passola Folch has won 13 of her last 15 singles matches.
• Sophomore Greta Greco Lucchina also qualified for NCAA singles at ITA West Sectionals, winning a playoff match in Seattle to join Passola Folch in Orlando.
• Overall, four Bears competed in NCAA singles in November, including Mao Mushika, a junior who advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Conference Masters Championships to book her spot at nationals.
• The Japan native garnered doubles All-America honors last year when she paired with former Bear Jessica Alsola to earn the No. 4 ranking in the last ITA poll of the 2024-25 season.
• Earlier in the fall, Mushika partnered with Greco Lucchina to win the doubles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Berkeley to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.
• Also during ITA regionals, sophomore Naomi Xu made a run to the singles final to claim her spot at NCAAs.
• The Bears are led by interim head coach Kris Kwinta, who is also in his fifth season at Cal as the Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis.
• Former Cal All-Americans Stephanie Kusano Wallace and Jean Lozano are assistant coaches for the Bears.

 
Scouting the Wolfpack

• NC State snapped a three-match losing streak with a 7-0 rout of No. 17 Michigan on Feb. 15.
• The Wolfpack had lost to No. 4 Auburn 4-1, No. 5 LSU 4-2 and No. 2 Ohio State 5-2 before facing the Wolverines.
• Five members of the Pack are ranked in singles: No. 28 Lavinia Tanasie, No. 31 Mia Slama, No. 38 Gabriella Broadfoot, No. 60 Anna Zyryanova and No. 106 Jasmine Conway.
• The doubles pair of Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe is ranked fourth, while the duo of Conway and Zyryanova is ranked 29th.
• Simon Earnshaw is in his 12th year as head coach of NC State

 
Scouting the Demon Deacons

• Wake Forest plays at Stanford on Friday at 1:30 p.m. PT.
• The Demon Deacons played twice at home last weekend, beating William & Mary 6-1 on Saturday and Appalachian State 4-2 on Sunday.
• The team of Eva Oxford and Whitney Pate is ranked 74th in doubles
• Jeff Wyshner is in his 16th season as Wake Forest's head coach

 
Last Time: Bears Open ACC Slate 2-0
Johanne Svendsen bested Jade Groen 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-4 to clinch her second victory as a Bear as Cal defeated No. 21 Clemson 4-1 in its ACC opener last Friday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The duo of Berta Passola Folch and Tiziana-Marie Schomburg clinched the doubles point against the Tigers as well as the doubles point the next day against No. 59 Georgia Tech. Cal freshman Laura Cilekova posted a 7-5, 6-0 win over Given Roach to clinch the 4-0 win over the Yellow Jackets.

Next Time
Cal hosts No. 14 Pepperdine on March 8 at Hellman. Following a match at No. 31 UC Santa Barbara on March 14, the Bears faces the Waves again, this time in Malibu, on March 15.
 
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Instagram (@CalWomensTennis), X (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (/CalWomensTennis/).