April 19, 1999
BERKELEY, Calif. - The California men's tennis team concludes its regular season this week in Ojai, CA, home of the Pac-10 Championships for more than 30 years. The 52nd-ranked Bears (7-12, 2-4 in Pac-10) will also make up a dual match with Arizona State on Thurs. Apr. 21 in Ojai, before Pac-10's begin on Apr. 22. A victory against ASU could be the Bears only chance of qualifying for NCAA Regional play.
THIS WEEK:
Wed. Apr. 21 vs. Arizona State (in Ojai, CA) TBA
Thurs. Apr. 22----Sun. Apr. 25 Pac-10 Championships (Ojai, CA) TBA
A QUICK LOOK AT CAL: The Bears battled through some tough matches last week, losing three contests to southern California opponents, No. 17 Pepperdine, No. 1 UCLA and No. 11 USC, all within a span of four days. After getting drowned by the Waves on Wed., 6-1, Cal lost to the Bruins 6-1 on Fri. and again faltered against the Trojans, losing 5-2, on Sat.
DEVILISH DUAL: Making up a dual match originally scheduled for Apr. 10, the Bears hope to keep their postseason chances alive when they take on ASU in Ojai. However, that won't be an easy task seeing as the Sun Devils are ranked 14th in the country and are the only team to have defeated top-ranked UCLA (on Jan. 30). ASU boasts three ranked singles players in Gustavo Marcuccio (No. 44), Jeff Williams (No. 89) and Alex Osterrieth (No. 99) as well as two ranked doubles teams; Williams and partner Ed Carter top the team at 13th while Osterrieth and Marcaccio follow at 45th in the nation. However, the Bears have history on their side: Cal leads the overall series with ASU, 34-9.
OUR HIRO: After an up-and-down season that saw him in and out of the Cal singles lineup, Hiro Nakamura proved last week that he could be a permanent contributer on the Bears squad. After losing to Pepperdine's Anthony Ross, Nakamura registered wins in the No. 6 position against both UCLA and USC, defeating the Bruins Chris Sands, 6-4, 6-3, before downing Trojan Scott Willinski the very next day to improve his record to 4-3 at the sixth spot. Nakamura is 9-10 overall this season and 5-7 in dual matches.
CAL IN THE POSTSEASON: If the Bears fail to qualify for the NCAA Regionals this year, it will be the first time since 1993 that Cal has not entered into the postseason picture. Since Wright took the helm in 1994, the Bears have not failed to qualify for Regionals once. Last year, the Bears won the Region V Championship on their way to competing in the NCAA Round of 16, where they capped off their season with a No. 11 national ranking. Cal lost in the 1st Round of Regionals in '97.
BEARS COME OF AGE: Although Cal's postseason chances are slim, the Bears prospects for next year look promising. Losing only one player (lone senior Chris Santoso) from this year's squad, Cal returns three sophomores and six freshman. Cal will also add two top recruits to next year's team in Robert Kowalczyk (Vero Beach, FL) and John Paul Fruttero (San Marino, CA). Kowalczyk, the 6th-ranked junior in the nation, was the top-ranked 18-and-under boys player in the state of Florida last year. Fruttero was ranked No. 10 amongst juniors in only his first year competing in the 18-and-under division.
THE TEAM LEADERS OF TOMORROW, TODAY: Sophomore Adrian Barnes is the only player to post a winning dual match record (10-9). Barnes has danced between the No. 1 and 2 positions, posting an 8-2 record in the second slot, but should be poised to take over the No. 1 position next season. Meanwhile, freshman Chris Lewis is the winningest player on this year's squad, posting a 16-12 overall record (8-9 in dual matches). Lewis has played most of the year at the No. 5 position where he has an even 5-5 dual match record.
THE COACHES: Cal's Peter Wright is in his sixth season as head coach of the Golden Bears. Since taking the reins of the Cal men's tennis program in the fall of 1993, Wright has registered a 72-60 (.545) dual match record and led the Bears into the postseason five consecutive years, including two Sweet 16 appearances. Joining Wright for his first season on the Bears coaching staff is former Cal great, Marty Davis. A three-time All-American from 1977 to '80 at Cal, Davis played 11 years on the ATP Tour and achieved a career-best No. 47 world ranking in 1985. Cordell Ho, Cal's Associate Head Coach for the past five seasons, will serve as a volunteer coach with the Bears in 1999.
