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ITA All-American Championships
The New Era Begins as the Bears Send Three Players to the ITA All-American Championships
9/18/2026 11:04 AM | Women's Tennis
The Cal Women's Tennis program officially starts a new era this week under first-year head coach Maggie Kane. The team will send three players to Cary, N.C., for the ITA All-American Championships: junior Naomi Xu, senior Mao Mushika and freshman Nika Hurkacz. Kane, the Stacy Savides Director of Women's Tennis, takes charge of a Cal program that reached the NCAA second round last season and finished ranked No. 22 nationally.
The season-opening tournament runs Saturday through Sept. 27. The Bears will make their debut Saturday in the pre-qualifying rounds, in which Xu and Hurkacz will play singles. This will be Hurkacz's collegiate debut. Also on Saturday, Xu and Mushika will compete in doubles.
The main-draw action starts Wednesday when Mushika, No. 51 in the ITA preseason rankings, begins her tournament in singles.
Here are the tournament details:
ITA All-American Championships
When: Saturday through Sept. 27
Where: Cary Tennis Park, Cary, N.C.
Pre-qualifying rounds: Saturday and Sunday (9 a.m. ET)
Qualifying rounds: Monday and Tuesday (9 a.m. ET)
Main draw: Wednesday-Sept. 27 (9 a.m. ET)
2025-26 Season in Review
During the 2025-26 season, Cal finished with a run to the NCAA second round, four NCAA singles qualifiers, and an NCAA singles runner-up finish by All-American Berta Passola Folch. Midyear addition Johanne Svendsen clinched a team-high four wins to earn third-team All-ACC recognition. Off the court, the Bears received four ACC All-Academic team selections and Xu claimed the team's top GPA award.
2025 ITA All-Americans
At last year's ITA All-American Championships, the Bears had two players who reached the main-draw singles Round of 16. Mushika, seeded ninth and ranked 17th, fell just short of securing an automatic NCAA Singles Championship berth in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 match against Stanford's fourth-seed Valerie Glozman. Berta Passola Folch also advanced through the draw before falling to Ohio State's fifth-ranked Luciana Perry in the same round. Mushika and Laura Cilekova were forced to withdraw from their consolation doubles quarterfinal because of injury.
New Era
The Bears have a new coaching staff this year, from Stacy Savides Director of Women's Tennis Maggie Kane to assistant coaches Jaan Kononov and Maegan Manasse. Kane joins the team after working as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, where she was named the ITA Southwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2025. Kononov spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with Michigan, where he helped lead the Wolverines to a 21-7 record (12-1 Big Ten) in 2025-26. Manasse, a former Cal player and five-time All-American, returns to the Bears as an assistant coach.
Cal's All-American Successes
Cal's history at the ITA All-American Championships consists of three singles titles: one from Raquel Kops-Jones in 2003, and two from Suzi Babos (2006 & 2007).
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