When you think of ideal places to play college tennis the University of California in Berkeley has to be pretty high up on the list due to its strong academics, scenic views, and year-round mild climate. Cal has a recently renovated tennis facility, a tenured head coach, and is in one of the most fertile states for tennis but success in terms of conference and national titles has eluded them for years. The Bears have played second, third, and fourth fiddle to its in-state Pac-12 neighbors Stanford, USC, and UCLA for quite some time with Cal’s last conference title coming all the way back in 1953 when the conference was known as the Pacific Coast Conference. Cal is 6-29 against the Big 3 since 2010 and the last time it beat all 3 in the same season was all the way back in 2005.
Despite its struggles against the heavy hitters this could be the season that Cal makes its mark because it’ll be starting 5 ranked singles players which is something that has probably never happened before.
Peter Wright enters his 23rd season as head coach of the Bears with a career record of 307-214 (.589) and has been the school’s all-time wins leader since 2011. Wright returns 5 of 6 singles starters and 4 of 6 doubles starters from a team that went 19-9 last season and fell in the second round of the NCAAs to Texas. Greg Bayane and Chase Melton were the 2 departures with the duo going 8-9 at #1 doubles while Bayane went a stout 19-4 in dual-match singles play with 9 of those wins coming at #3.
Wright brought in 3 new guys for the coming season – Mississippi State transfer #30 Florian Lakat (Jr), Ryan Shen (Fr), and Gunther Matta (Fr). Lakat played at #1 singles and #1 doubles last season for Mississippi State going 14-8 in singles and 9-4 in doubles (w Julian Cash). He beat 5 ranked opponents in dual-match play including Georgia’s Austin Smith and Florida’s Diego Hidalgo with both of those guys expected to play at #1 this season. Lakat went 8-3 this past fall with a big win over #6 Chris Eubanks (Georgia Tech) at the ITA All-Americans. I’d expect to see Lakat play at either #2 or #3 singles this season and I think he’ll play very well. Ryan Shen, TRN 5-star and #11 recruit in California, and Gunther Matta, TRN 4-star and #23 player in California, both played this fall with Shen picking up 6 singles wins while Matta had 2. I don’t expect to see either in the singles lineup this season unless a couple of guys get injured or take the day off.
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| Andre Goransson (Picture from ITA) |
Wright’s top returning player, #3 Andre Goransson (Jr), is coming off a superb sophomore season that saw the native of Sweden go 14-5 in dual-match play with all 19 results coming at #1 singles. Goransson had a stellar fall racking up 9 wins over ranked opponents with his only 2 losses coming to the current ITA #1 Dominik Koepfer (Tulane).
#86 Filip Bergevi (Jr) played at #2 last season going 11-7 in dual-match play and this fall he turned in a 6-3 record with his best result coming at the Battle in the Bay Classic. I’d expect to see Bergevi drop down to #3 this season with Florian Lakat’s arrival.
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| Billy Griffith (Picture from GoldenBearSports) |
#39 Billy Griffith (Soph) had an up and down freshman year going 8-8 in dual-match play, while playing at every spot except for #1, but the Fresno native really stepped it up this fall by going 12-3 with 3 ranked wins. I look for Griffith to play at #4 this season and expect him to double his win total from a year ago.
#54 Oskar Wikberg (Sr) joined the team last year after transferring from Wisconsin where he played at #1 his sophomore year. Wikberg went 17-7 in dual-match play last season while starting 13 of those matches at #4. Even though Oskar beat Billy Griffith in the fall (3rd set TB) I still think he will start off the year behind him due to how strong Billy was in the fall.
J.T. Nishimura (Soph) had a solid fall winning 9 matches, including a ranked win over #38 Alec Adamson (UC Davis), and is capable of playing higher in the lineup but I think he starts off the year at #6 due to Griffith and Wikberg being a little bit stronger. Nishimura spent most of last year at #4 and #5 compiling an 8-8 dual-match record.
Mads Engsted (Sr) will be first off the bench after going 7-3 in dual-match play last season with all but 1 of those matches coming at #6. Engsted went 6-2 this fall and split meetings with #61 Michael Genender (Stanford).
Ryan Shen (Fr), Gunther Matta (Fr), Wyatt Houghton (Sr), and Jordan Smith (Sr) would be next in line but I don’t expect them to see much playing time this season.
Cal went 17-11 in doubles last year but it’ll have to replace its #1 team after Greg Bayane and Chase Melton departed. Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat put up some nice results in the fall so I think they’ll most likely play at #1 but after that it’s pretty wide open. Filip Bergevi and Mads Engsted went 16-8 last season but they weren’t paired up at all in the fall. While Goransson and Lakat went 13-7 individually in doubles this fall the rest of the team went a combined 9-29. Cal can’t afford to lose the doubles point against every top 20 team and expect to win with much consistency so they’ll have to get something figured out and quickly.
Below are each players summer/fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is their ITA rankings as of 1/6.
#30 Florian Lakat (8-3/7-4) – went 3-0 at the Porsche Napa Valley Classic by beating #31 Diego Hidalgo (Florida), George Goldhoff (Texas), and the USTA’s JJ Wolf, made it to the round of 16 at the ITA All-Americans by beating #6 Chris Eubanks (Georgia Tech) and #73 Trevor Johnson (TCU), made it to the quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional, won the doubles draw at the Battle in the Bay Classic (w Goransson)
#86 Filip Bergevi (6-3/2-2) – made it to the semifinals at the Battle in the Bay Classic before falling to his teammate Andre Goransson 7-6 in the 3rd, made it to the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional
#39 Billy Griffith (12-3/1-3) – went 3-0 at the Porsche Napa Valley Classic by beating #57 David Wilczynski (Stanford), Gordon Watson (Florida), and Zeke Clark (’16 Illinois Commit) and then followed that up by winning the Solinco Wild Card Shootout, beat #113 Daan Maasland (Oregon) to win the UCSB Classic, beat #35 Uros Petronijevic (San Diego) in the consolation draw at the Battle in the Bay Classic, made it to the quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional
#54 Oskar Wikberg (7-3/1-3) – won the consolation draw at the Battle in the Bay Classic by defeating teammate #39 Billy Griffith in a third set supertiebreak, beat #49 Elliott Orkin (Florida) at the Porsche Napa Valley Classic
J.T. Nishimura (9-3/2-5) – beat #38 Alec Adamson (UC Davis) in route to winning the A Flight Singles Draw at the UC Davis Aggie Invitational, made the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional, made the doubles quarterfinals at the Northwest Regional (w Bergevi)
Mads Engsted (6-2/0-4) – made it to the third round of the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional, beat #61 Michael Genender (Stanford) at the Porsche Napa Valley Classic
Ryan Shen (6-4/1-5) – made it to the semifinals of the B Flight Singles Draw at the UC Davis Aggie Invitational, won his first round match at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional
Gunther Matta (2-5/1-4) – made it the semifinals of the C Flight Singles Draw at the UCSB Classic
Wyatt Houghton (1-2/1-2) – won a consolation match at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional
Jordan Smith (0-6/0-1) – participated in the UCSB Classic and USTA/ITA Northwest Regional
Projected Depth Chart:
1. Andre Goransson
2. Florian Lakat
3. Filip Bergevi
4. Billy Griffith
5. Oskar Wikberg
6. J.T. Nishimura
7. Mads Engsted
8. Ryan Shen
9. Gunther Matta
10. Wyatt Houghton
11. Jordan Smith
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 1/11/16 – high in ( )
#1289 – Florian Lakat (1202)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 1/12/16:
14.37 – Andre Goransson
13.98 – Filip Bergevi
13.91 – Florian Lakat
13.80 – Billy Griffith
13.62 – J.T. Nishimura
13.41 – Oskar Wikberg
13.17 – Mads Engsted
12.34 – Ryan Shen
12.19 – Wyatt Houghton (40%)
12.04 – Gunther Matta
10.44 – Jordan Smith (80%)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 6/3/15
14.28 – Andre Goransson
14.01 – Florian Lakat
13.98 – Filip Bergevi
13.69 – J.T. Nishimura
13.54 – Oskar Wikberg
13.53 – Mads Engsted
13.44 – Billy Griffith
12.81 – Ryan Shen
12.42 – Wyatt Houghton
12.03 – Gunther Matta
11.76 – Jordan Smith
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#34 – Filip Bergevi
#129 – Mads Engsted
#302 – Oskar Wikberg
#327 – Andre Goransson
#598 – Billy Griffith
#677 – Florian Lakat
#1485 – Gunther Matta
#1677 – Ryan Shen
#1708 – Wyatt Houghton
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #2 – Billy Griffith
5-star #9 – J.T. Nishimura
5-star #33 – Ryan Shen
4-star #70 – Wyatt Houghton
4-star #95 – Gunther Matta
4-star #117 – Jordan Smith
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – RV – (Shen, Matta)
2014 – #10 – (Griffith, Nishimura)
2013 – #12 – (Goransson, Bergevi)
2012 – NR – (Houghton, Smith, Engsted, Seth Stolar, Stuart Miller)
NR = Not Ranked; RV = Received Votes
Note: Florian Lakat was part of Mississippi State’s 2013 recruiting class and Oskar Wikberg was part of Wisconsin’s 2012 class
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
Bjorn Hoffmann – Newport Beach, CA – TRN Blue Chip #13 – UTR 12.97
Dominic Barretto – Tiburon, CA – TRN 4-star #92 – UTR 12.23
Connor Heap – Christchurch, New Zealand – UTR 13.32 (50%)
Cal then comes back home for a doubleheader against Hawaii and San Francisco before heading to Austin the following weekend to play Texas and TCU. Cal should be able to exact some revenge against Texas after the Horns sent them home last year but beating a Top 5 TCU team will be a tall task.
After a trip to Charlottesville for the National Team Indoors they go across the bay to face Stanford in the Big Slam (1st edition) then the following weekend they are back home to welcome in Pepperdine. They’ll squeeze a match in with Oklahoma State during the PCC Doubles Championships in La Jolla and then they come home to face Purdue the next weekend. Next up they face another 2 members of the Big 12, Oklahoma and Baylor, during the Oracle Collegiate Challenge in Indian Wells. The Bears will be an underdog against Oklahoma but the Baylor match could be a pick ’em. Note: Cal plays everyone in the Big 12 except for Texas Tech.
Cal goes to USC and UCLA in conference play while Stanford, Washington, and Oregon come to Berkeley. Cal also plays San Diego State at home in the middle of their conference schedule.
Departing singles starters: Greg Bayane (3)
Departing depth: Nikhil Jayashankar, Chase Melton, Hasier Pastor
Departing doubles starters: Bayane/Melton (1)
If Cal can get a split in LA its match with Stanford to finish the regular season could be a winner take all match for the Pac 12 title. I’m still leaning towards Stanford to win the conference but I wouldn’t be surprised if Cal got it done this year. I’ve got Cal down for an 18-6 regular season and I think they’ll host a NCAA regional and make it back to the Sweet Sixteen for the 5th time in the last 6 years. They’ll need to be a #12 seed or better to have a decent chance of making it to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2003.
The Bears went to Austin and put up a good fight against a senior-laden Texas team but the Longhorns were a little too strong up top and in doubles and pulled out a 4-1 win. It was the second year in a row that Texas knocked Cal out of the NCAAs – recap
T-3:44
Don't have twitter, but re your post yesterday, it is not an error.