Select Page

Cal Wins A 4-3 Thriller To Kick Off Friday’s Schedule

by | May 20, 2016 | Blog | 7 comments

Tagged with: ,

Well that didn’t take long – we already have our first upset of the day as No. 13 California withstood a late rally by TCU to hold on for a 4-3 win. The match was supposed to be played outdoors but it had to be played indoors since the courts were still wet from yesterday’s rain plus there was still a light mist in the air up until about 10:30 a.m.

Cal dropped the doubles point in the regular season meeting but then took over in singles and won 4-2; today Cal got off to the quick start in doubles by going up early breaks on a few courts but closing them out wouldn’t be easy.

TCU’s Cameron Norrie and Alex Rybakov jumped out to a 4-2 lead at No. 3 but Cal’s Mads Engsted and J.T. Nishimura would break back and then fight off two break points to hold for 4-4 – video clip shows the no-ad point with Engsted using some quick reflexes at the net to win the point.

TCU would hold for 5-4 and then they’d break the Engsted serve to win it 6-4.


Cal’s Andre Goransson and Oskar Wikberg had opened up a big 5-2 lead at No. 2 but TCU’s Trevor Johnson and Guillermo Nunez would fight back to even it at 5-5 (Cal had two match points while serving at 5-3, 40-30). The match would go to a tiebreak but it was all one sided as Goransson and Wikberg raced out to a 6-1 lead. Goransson double faulted two times in a row to make it 6-3 and then Nunez put one at away the net to make it 6-4. Goransson would redeem himself on the next point and would clinch the 7-6(4) win with a nice volley at the net.


Over on court 1, Cal’s Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat were up 6-5 and Lakat was serving for the match up 40-30. Lakat double faulted to bring up the deciding point but then he hit a service winner to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 win.


Cal really came out strong in singles by going up breaks on five of the six courts but TCU would fight back on many of them.

TCU sophomore Cameron Norrie fell behind Florian Lakat 0-2 in the opening set but he held, broke, and held to go up 3-2. Norrie would break Lakat again to take the opening set 6-4 and then he’d run away in the second set to win it 6-4, 6-1.


Cal would regain the lead when TCU’s Eduardo Nava was forced to a retire with what appeared to be a pretty severe groin injury after he went down while leading Oskar Wikberg 2-1 in the first set tiebreak. Here was the final point of the match which came with Nava serving in the opening game of the second set.


Cal junior Filip Bergevi extended the lead to 3-1 with a pretty thorough win over Jerry Lopez at No. 4. Bergevi broke Lopez to go up 3-1 in the opening set but Lopez would break back for 3-2. Bergevi would break again to go up 4-2, hold for 5-2, and then broke once more to take the opening set 6-2. Bergevi earned the first break of the second set by going up 3-1 and then a few games later he’d serve it out for a 6-2, 6-3 win.


TCU may have been down but they weren’t out as Guillermo Nunez cut the deficit to 3-2 with a win over Billy Griffith at No. 3. The first set went back and forth with Nunez coming back from a break down to win it 6-4. Nunez sprinted out to a 5-2 lead in the second set but Griffith would hold and break to put it back on serve at 5-4. Nunez would break back to close it out 6-4, 6-4.


TCU freshman Alex Rybakov was up an early break on Andre Goransson in the third set at No. 2 but Cal sophomore J.T. Nishimura led Trevor Johnson 3-0 in the third set at No. 6. Nishimura wouldn’t win another game as Johnson reeled off six straight to close it out 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The match was now tied at 3-3 and it looks like TCU may pull off the epic comeback but Cal junior Andre Goransson stayed the course and picked up this pivotal break to put the match back on serve at 3-3 in the third.


After a series of holds, Rybakov would find himself in a huge hole while serving at 5-6, 0-40. He managed to fight off the first two match points but he couldn’t fight off a third as Andre Goransson pulled it out 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

#13 California (20-6) def. #4 TCU (26-4), 4-3
May 20, 2016 at Tulsa, OK (Michael D. Case Tennis Center  Indoors)
Head Coaches: David Roditi (TCU) and Peter Wright (California)
Doubles
1. #9 Filip Bergevi/Florian Lakat (Cal) def. #65 Hudson Blake/Reese Stalder (TCU), 7-5
2. Andre Goransson/Oskar Wikberg (Cal) def. Trevor Johnson/Guillermo Nuez (TCU), 7-6 (4)
3. Cameron Norrie/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Mads Engsted/J.T. Nishimura (Cal), 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. #5 Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. #30 Florian Lakat (California), 6-4, 6-1
2. #31 Andre Goransson (California) def. #24 Alex Rybakov (TCU), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
3. #86 Guillermo Nuez (TCU) def. #85 Billy Griffith (California), 6-4, 6-4
4. #119 Filip Bergevi (California) def. Jerry Lopez (TCU), 6-2, 6-3
5. #124 Oskar Wikberg (California) def. Eduardo Nava (TCU), 7-6 (4), ret. inj.
6. Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. J.T. Nishimura (California), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 4, 3, 6, 2

California Head Coach Peter Wright
Opening Statement…
“Every time that we play TCU it is a battle. The doubles was critical for us today, and it really came to a couple of points here and there. I felt that gave us some momentum going into singles play. TCU fights hard and they are a great team who is well coached. Our guys battled as well, and I really think at the end of the day that you can’t have a finer tennis match to start off the NCAA Championships.
Did the win over TCU earlier this season give you some confidence going into this match
“In rematches where you are playing the team for a second or third time of the year you realize how hard it is to beat a team twice and its even harder to beat a team three times. I was really proud of how our guys focused on the task at hand one match at a time and one point at a time. The expectation that we had was that we were going to win this match, and not a lot of other people thought that. I think that we knew that going in and that was a little bit of extra pressure on us, but I think that we arose to the challenge.
On previously playing indoors in the Case Tennis Center against Tulsa in January and how it helped in today’s match
“When the match got brought indoors this morning first thing I thought is that we have played here before. We lost to Tulsa here indoors right out of the gates in one of the first matches of the season. We know those indoor courts well, and we got a lot of Cal tennis fans here in Tulsa. Tulsa is a wonderful tennis town, and you couldn’t have better fans than the tennis fans in Tulsa. We have got some Cal fans here that have been really supportive of us, and so we are comfortable here and we really like Tulsa a lot. They have great restaurants and wonderful people who are friendly. 
Andre Goransson, California (#2 singles)
On the final set of his singles match 
“It was a tough one. I saw that J.T. was up 3-0 in the third set, and then it came down to 3-2. I was down a break so I figured that it would come down to me. I said to myself that the journey will not be over yet for the team, and I was able to break back and win 7-5. It was pretty intense.
On the last ten minutes of the match
“It was a really close game. I held pretty comfortably, and I had match point at 5-4.  It was tough, because I knew the match could be over. I served pretty well at 5-5 and at 6-5. I trailed love-40 in the last point, and then I scored four match points in a row and was able to finish with an overhand so that was nice.
On playing indoors on this court previously
“I remember coming here in January and that was quite a nightmare, because we lost 4-3 and I lost my match. You know the surface and you can correct your mistakes a little bit. It was nice to get revenge on the indoor court, not the opponent but the court, we lost on earlier in the season.  

TCU Head Coach David Roditi
Opening Statement…

“It was a great college match, absolutely. It had everything, you had great tennis, you had comebacks and you had an injury in there. I hope Eduardo (Nava) is okay. We will deal with that.  They did a good job. I wish we had come up on the winning end. It didn’t look very good for a long time. Our guys fought, like they have been fighting all year, so resilient. I was proud of Trevor (Johnson) for what he did; great win for Guillermo (Nunez); (Cameron) Norrie has been a stud all year.  They did a great job.  They (Cal) have spots that are very strong, that we knew would be really tough to get and we got one of those points. Trevor came through huge. (Alex) Rybakov, he’s never going to experience something like this, this is great for Rybakov’s development and what a great experience. I would put my life on Alex in that situation anytime.  He’s been nothing but a stud. I’d like to see that match again. We just had a lot to overcome.  We have young team, very young team. We have one junior, and everybody else is a freshman or sophomore in the singles lineup and one junior in doubles. The future looks so good. I love these guys.  

7 Comments

  1. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    Mad Wake Fan might want to review the match recaps for the 2015 season. Harris was at #1 for most of the early part of the season. So. Florida, Virginia, Ohio St., Wake Forest, No. Carolina, Baylor, + 4 matches in the Team Indoor which OU won. Harris & Axel both won last night.

  2. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    How can Oklahoma get away with putting Harris at 2? Clear stack? He has been out all season and suddenly he is playing #1 over Alvarez, someone who he never played 1 over before???

  3. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    When ya get too showy, it can bite you in the backside, right TCU? Every team has stuff to overcome, others just do it better and without whining or making excuses about it.

  4. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    Wait till next year..the famous rallying cry!

  5. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    It was a great match, but having to play indoors, Nava going down to an injury and losing the doubles point was just too much to overcome, even though TCU still almost won it. If no one goes pro and Escobar plays next year, this team will be very difficult for anyone to beat.

  6. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    The TU live scoring / video is really bad. On live scoring you have to continually refresh to keep up with the current score. The video works and then doesn't work. It might be 30-40 minutes before it gets back up.<br /><br />You cannot find any results on the TU ncaa web page for those matches already completed. If this is a high profile event, the media info is terrible.

  7. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    I am amazed so many matches in this round are going 4-3. I don't ever recall seeing that in prior years.