March 30, 1998
This Week: Friday April 3 Southern Calilfornia 1:30 p.m.
Saturday April 4 UCLA 12 Noon
Next Week: Tuesday April 7 Stanford 1:30 p.m.
Friday April 10 Arizona 1:30 pm
Saturday April 11 Arizona State Noon
ON TAP: After sweeping the Kansas at home and the Arizona schools on the road last week, Cal returns home to the Hellman Tennis Center to take on a pair of Top 10 foes in No. 9 USC and No. 8 UCLA this weekend.
THE LINEUPS: Head coach Peter Wright has yet to set a lineup for this weeks matches. However, look for Bobby Mahal, Nathan Jackmon, Minh Le, Adrian Barnes, Kian Raiszadeh and David Sutton in the Nos. 1-6 slots in the singles lineup, respectively. The teams of Mahal/Jackmon, and Minh Le/Erik Dmytruk should comprising two of the doubles squads with the third being either Chris Santoso/Sutton or Barnes/Scott Kintz.
ABOUT THE TROJANS: Currently the nations No. 9-ranked team, USC comes to Cal with a 13-3 overall record, 4-2 Pac-10. The Trojans are led by No. 23-ranked George Bastl but have two others, No. 98 Patrick Gottesleben and No. 99 Kyle Spencer, who also rank among collegiate tennis Top 100. Cal trails by an overall margin of 27-108-4 in the all-time series and last year, dropped both contests to the Trojans, 6-1 in Los Angeles and 5-2 in Berkeley.
ABOUT THE BRUINS: Eighth-ranked UCLA enters the week with a 12-3 overall mark, 5-1 Pac-10, and will visit Stanford on Friday before coming across the Bay to face the Bears on Saturday. The Bruins are led by a trio of ranked singles players, including No. 4 Vince Allegre, No. 15 Jean-Noel Grinda and No. 34 Matt Breen. In doubles, Breen and Grinda combine to form the nations No. 35 team. Last year, UCLA took a pair from the Bears, winning by identical scores of 5-2 in both Los Angeles and Berkeley, increasing its lead in the all-time series to 33-99-1 over Cal.
PREVIOUS ACTION: Cal had perhaps its best week of the year last week as the Bears were a perfect 3-for-3 in their matches against Kansas, Arizona State and Arizona. The Bears opened up the week with a 5-2 victory over the Jayhawks and, for the sixth time in eight opportunities, opened the match by winning the doubles point behind victories from the teams of Bobby Mahal/Nathan Jackmon and Erik Dmytruk/Minh Le. Mahal then posted his 13th singles victory of the season before Jackmon, Kian Raiszadeh and David Sutton all went on to record straight-set victories in the Nos. 3, 5 and 6 positions, respectively, to secure the Cal win. On Friday, Cal traveled to Arizona State and defeated the 24th-ranked Sun Devils, 4-3. The victory was Cals biggest comeback of the season as Arizona State jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before the Bears stormed their way back to take four straight singles points for the win. After dropping the doubles point, Cal fell further behind as ASU stretched its lead to 3-0 by winning the first two singles points. Thats when Sutton sparked the Bears comeback with a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of Miles Rogers in the No. 6 position as Cal went on to reel off wins on courts 4, 5 and 6 to tie the dual at three apiece. Cal finally closed out Arizona State by taking the deciding match at the No. 3 position as Le came back from a set down to outlast Ed Carter, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. The following day at Arizona, the Wildcats could not find a way to stop Cal, as the Bears rolled to a 5-2 victory. Mahal posted his second win of the week in the No. 1 position with a 6-3, 6-5 win over Arizonas Roland Kupka and Jackmon knocked off Jerome Oliveri, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2 to give the Bears an early 3-0 lead. Although Cal dropped both matches at No. 3 and 4, it stormed back in the last two positions to clinch the victory. At No. 5, Raiszadeh downed Adnan Novo, 6-1, 6-4 and Sutton defeated Mike Huss, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 6. In doubles action, California claimed the point by winning two of three doubles matches.
BEST START IN EIGHT YEARS: What a difference a year makes. After struggling to a 10-13 record a year ago, Cal has run out to an 11-2 mark this season, its best record through 13 matches since the 1990 Bears registered the same record. That year, Cal ended the season 23-9 and reached the NCAA quarterfinals.
DOUBLES TALK: Cal has only played doubles in nine of its 13 matches this season mostly due to bad weather. But the Bears have earned the doubles point in six of those nine matches (Santa Clara, Washington, Oregon, Fresno State, Kansas and Arizona). The only three matches in which Cal has failed to win the doubles point were against Stanford, San Diego and Arizona State. Overall, the Bears are 16-11 (4-5 at No. 1, 7-2 at No. 2 and 5-4 at No. 3) in dual match doubles play this season.
AT THE TOP: Since returning to the Cal lineup after sitting out the majority of the 1996-97 campaign, junior Bobby Mahal has been a solid performer in the Bears No. 1 singles position. To date, Mahal has posted a 14-5 overall record, 8-3 dual match, and has appeared in Cal top spot in all but two of the Bears 13 contests this season. Overall, Mahal has posted straight set victories in 11 of his 15 wins. He also teams with Nathan Jackmon to form Cals top doubles tandem.
JACKS BACK: Nathan Jackmon appears to be fully recovered from a shoulder injury he suffered in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic in early January that sidelined the junior for over a month. Since his return, he has steadily risen in the Bears starting rotation from playing in the No. 6 slot versus Stanford on Feb. 28 to the No. 2 spot last weekend against Arizona State and Arizona. Jackmon, who opened the season with a 4-1 mark prior to the injury, has won four of his last five matches and now boasts a 10-5 overall record, 5-3 dual match.
HAPPY RETURNS: Having senior Kian Raiszadeh back in the Bears lineup has paid big dividends for the Bears this season. Raiszadeh, who plans on attending medical school after graduating from Cal in May, sat out most of the 1996-97 campaign to concentrate on studying for the MCAT. This season, Raiszadeh as registered a team-best 17 wins (17-3 overall record, 9-1 dual match) and his .850 winning percentage is also tops on the team. He has also been victorious in 12 of his last 13 matches and is currently on a three match winning streak.
STEADY SUTTON: One of the Bears most consistent players this season has been senior David Sutton. Coming off a junior campaign in which he posted and even 15-15 record, Sutton has turned it up a notch this year and has already posted a single-season career-best in victories with 16 (16-6 overall, 9-2 dual match). Sutton has also won nine of his last 11 contests and three in a row.
FRESHMEN PROVIDING NET GAINS: Cals freshmen continue to have a positive impact on this year squad, particularly Adrian Barnes. Despite missing a pair of Cals dual matches with an injured arm, Barnes has still managed to post an 13-5 overall record, 7-4 dual match. He earned a spot in the Bears starting lineup during the fall and has seen action in the Nos. 2-5 slots so far this season. In all, the freshman class of Barnes, Eric Dmytruk and Scott Kintz are a combined 33-12 in singles so far this season. In doubles, Barnes and Kintz have registered three dual match victories, while Dmytruk, who teams with senior Minh Le, has recorded the teams best doubles mark, 12-6.
JUST WHERE DO YOU WANT ME?: Cal senior Minh Le continues to be the Bears most versatile player. Appearing in all 13 of Cals dual matches this season, Le has played as high as the No. 1 position (vs. UC Irvine) and as low as the No. 6 slot (vs. Santa Clara). He has also appeared in all three doubles positions with partner Eric Dmytruk, posting a 5-4 dual mark.
CAL IN THE RANKINGS: Cal slipped 6 slots in the March 24 ITA Spring II poll and now holds down the No. 30position Individually, Cal has two ranked players:
Singles
86. Nathan Jackmon (Sr.)
91. Bobby Mahal (Jr.)
Doubles
The previously 33rd-ranked tandem of Mahal and Jackmon dropped out of the most recent poll.
Other Pac-10 Teams in the Rankings
1. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. USC
25. Arizona State
27. Washington
41. Arizona
60. Oregon
NOTE: The ITAs Spring III Team and Individual Rankings will be released Tuesday, April 7.
