BERKELEY — The 23rd-ranked California women's tennis team won the first match of the Big Slam at the Hellman Tennis Complex on Tuesday, when the brand new pairing of Mao Mushika and Anya Murthy prevailed in doubles against the top Stanford duo. But the Golden Bears eventually lost 4-0 to the 47th-ranked Cardinal in their regular-season home finale.
 
Cal's record now stands at 10-6 (7-4 ACC). Stanford improved to 11-8 (7-4).
 
Mushika and Murthy defeated Monika Ekstrand and Caroline Driscoll 6-3 on Court 1, but Stanford won on the other two courts to capture the doubles point. The Cardinal clinched its 1-0 lead on Court 3, where Cal's Naomi Xu and Laura Cilekova fell to Valerie Glozman and Sein Myoung 6-3.
 
Stanford posted three straight-set singles wins to secure its victory. In her last regular-season home match, Cal's 13th-ranked Berta Passola Folch lost to 32nd-ranked Ekstrand 6-3, 6-3 to end the Big Slam.
 
Cal was short-handed with 30th-ranked Johanne Svendsen missing her second consecutive match while on international duty with Denmark, which is competing against Portugal this week in the Billie Jean King Cup. Svendsen also forms the nation's 59th-ranked doubles team with Mushika, though the play of Murthy in doubles offset the Dane's absence.
 
"We were not ready to play today for some reason," Cal interim head coach Kris Kwinta said. "It started in doubles. We were the more timid team. They went for their shots and they were more aggressive. That's what we should be doing. We're the home team with home-court advantage in front of our home crowd. There are some positive things. Mao and Anya played pretty good doubles and beat a good team together, so it was even more disappointing that we ended up losing the doubles point. Obviously, Johanne is missing, but that's not an excuse. We have enough firepower to deliver a doubles point against Stanford. And then in singles, we were kind of flat. It was too easy for them. We just have to regroup. This is a good group of players and for some reason we're struggling right now a little bit. It's okay. This is a learning experience. But we need to answer some questions and adjust before SMU."
 
Cal travels to Dallas on Friday to end the regular season at No. 30 SMU.
 
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