April 5, 2000
Berkeley, Calif. -
Coming off of last week's huge victories over Harvard, Arizona State and Arizona, the Cal men's tennis team looks to continue their winning ways this week against the likes of Sac. St., USC, and UCLA. First up for the Bears will be Sac. St, on Tues., at 1:30 p.m,. at the Channing Tennis Courts. Next the Bears will face No. 19 USC, on Fri., at 1:30 p.m. at Hellman Tennis Center. Finally the Bears will take on No. 1 UCLA on Sat. at noon, also at Hellman Tennis Center.
A LOOK AT SACRAMENTO STATE: This week's match between Cal and Sacramento State is the first of its kind in 31 years. The last time these two teams met was in 1969 when the Bears notched an 8-1 victory over the Hornets. Cal leads the overall series with Sacramento State, 11-0. This season the Hornets are 12-6 on the year and are lead by Chris Smith, who has compiled a 15-2 overall record.
A LOOK AT USC: No. 19 USC comes into this week's match on the heels of a 4-3 loss to No. 1 UCLA last weekend. The loss moves them to 12-6 on the year. The Trojans hold the advantage in the series, leading the Bears 111-28-4. USC won both meetings between the two teams last year, defeating Cal 4-3, on Apr. 2, and 5-2, on Apr. 17.
A LOOK AT UCLA: After facing Stanford on Fri., the No. 1 Bruins will sail into Berkeley on Sat. to take on the Golden Bears. UCLA ranks number one in the country having only lost twice this year (16-2), once to Pepperdine on Feb. 1, and the other to Stanford in the finals of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships. UCLA defeated the Bears in both of their meetings last year, 6-1, on Apr. 3 and 6-1, on Apr. 16. The Bruins hold the lead in the overall series, 102-34-1.
HARVARD MATCH IN REVIEW: Last week's meeting between Cal and Harvard was only the second match ever between the two schools and the first since 1920. With their 6-1 defeat of the Crimson on Mar. 29, the Bears now hold a 2-0 lead in the series. Cal dominated Harvard from the start, sweeping the doubles matches and jumping out to a 1-0 lead. In singles the Bears only loss of the afternoon came at the No. 3 spot where freshman Robert Kowalczyk lost to Dave Lingman, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
ARIZONA STATE, ARIZONA MATCHES IN REVIEW: The Bears picked up two crucial Pac-10 victories last weekend, moving them to 9-4 overall and 3-3 in Pac-10 play when they defeated both ASU and Arizona in matches played in Berkeley. On Fri., Mar. 31, the Bears narrowly edged out the Sun Devils, 4-3, sweeping the doubles matches and three of the six singles matches to clinch the victory. Cal's David Tzou staged a remarkable comeback at the No. 6 spot, battling back to win the match after falling behind 0-6, 0-4 in the second set. Tzou survived four match points to seal the victory, 0-6, 7-6, 6-1. On Sat., the Bears clobbered the visiting Wildcats, 5-2, giving them their second Pac-10 victory of the weekend. They once again swept the doubles matches, grabbing the early lead before taking four of the six singles matches to win their third-straight match.
FRUTTERO IMPRESSIVE IN RECENT MATCHES: After a up and down beginning, freshman John Paul Fruttero seems to have hit his stride as of late, going 3-0 last week at the No. 2 singles slot. Fruttero, the only Bears to go undefeated last week, notched easy victories over Harvard's Joe Green (6-2, 6-3) and ASU's Ed Carter (6-2, 6-0), before coming up big against Arizona's Jean Noel LaCoste, winning 6-1, 6-7, 6-3. With the victories Fruttero improves to 8-7 overall and 7-5 in dual match play.
IN THE FUTURE: Next week the Bears will host Utah on Tues. Apr. 11 before heading to Arizona to take on Arizona on Apr. 14 and Arizona State on Apr. 15.
