BERKELEY — Freshmen Mille Johanna Moerk and Laura Cilekova completed a 4-3 comeback win for the 23rd-ranked California women's tennis team Sunday at the Hellman Tennis Complex, with Cilekova winning a three-setter to tie the match against Virginia Tech 3-3 and then Moerk winning two tiebreaker sets to clinch the overall victory for the short-handed Golden Bears.
 
Cal's record improved to 10-5 (7-3 ACC), while Virginia Tech fell to 4-14 (1-9).

Missing on Sunday for Cal was 29th-ranked Johanne Svendsen, who usually plays at Court 1 singles and Court 1 doubles with Mao Mushika; the duo is ranked 58th. The freshman Bear is preparing to represent her country, Denmark, in Billie Jean King Cup matches against Portugal from Tuesday through Saturday in Oeiras, Portugal.
 
Virginia Tech took a 1-0 lead into singles after winning the doubles point. The Golden Bears quickly tied the match 1-1 when 104th-ranked Naomi Xu defeated Alston Myatt on Court 5, where, after the Cal sophomore won the first set 6-1, the Hokie retired with an injury.
 
Cal's 11th-ranked Berta Passola Folch – in the penultimate regular-season singles match at Hellman for the senior – followed with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over 113th-ranked Ozlem Uslu on Court 1 to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.
 
But back-to-back losses on Courts 6 and 2 left Cal trailing 3-2 – until Cilekova bested Mila Mulready 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on Court 3 to tie the proceedings.
 
Moerk – with the second clinching win of her young career – ended the day when she beat Elizaveta Castillo 7-6(4), 7-6(6) in a tight match on Court 4.
 
The first-year Bear also clinched a 4-1 win at Louisville on March 27.

"It was a tough battle today to secure another 4-3 win this season," Cal assistant coach Stephanie Kusano Wallace said. "The Bears must remain committed to embracing pressure and staying in the moment. Great to see Mille out there scrapping to clinch again for her team. We've learned a lot of lessons so far, but I'm looking forward to seeing it come together now for end of conference play."

Cal plays two more ACC matches to end the regular season, hosting No. 36 Stanford on Tuesday at 1 p.m. PT in their regular-season home finale at Hellman before ending the regular season at No. 25 SMU on April 10.
 
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on X (@CalWomensTennis), Instagram (@CalWomensTennis) and Facebook (/CalWomensTennis).