Cal Bears Claim First Ever ITA Indoors Title

February 9, 2016 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
cal bears ita title
Photo Credit: ITA Tennis

The No. 6 nationally-ranked California women's tennis team made school history on Monday afternoon at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, as they captured the program's first-ever ITA Division I National Women's Team Indoors Championship title with a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 5 North Carolina.

Cal, the lone Pac-12 team at the tournament, has made only one previous National Team Indoors final appearance, which took place in 2000. The Bears dropped the match to Stanford, 8-0.

Defending champion UNC got off to a hot start in doubles play as Jessie Aney and Kate Vialle swiftly posted a 6-1 win over Cal's Klara Fabikova and Olivia Hauger in the No. 2 position. The Bears hung around in the remaining two matches, but the Tar Heels still went on to claim the point after Ashley Dai and Chloe Oulette-Pitzer defeated Maria Smith and Lynn Chi, 6-4, in the No. 3 spot.

The No. 1 doubles match-up was a repeat of the 2015 Riviera/ITA All-American doubles championship, as No. 2 Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay of UNC took on Cal's No. 3 nationally-ranked duo of Maegan Manasse andDenise Starr. Carter and Kay, the 2015 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor champions, led 5-4 over the All-American doubles champs from Cal when the match was called.

Despite dropping the doubles point, the Bears responded well in singles play.

Tenth-ranked Fabikova put the Bears on the board with her 6-2, 7-5 over No. 88 Kay in the No. 2 position.

No. 6-ranked Carter replied with a decisive 6-2, 6-2 victory over (No. 5) Manasse in the No. 1 spot to put the Tar Heels back on top momentarily, but the Bears came back with wins in the No. 3 and No. 6 positions putting the score at 3-2.

Chi defeated UNC's Vialle 6-3, 7-5 in No. 4 singles while Karla Popovic took out No. 112 Oulette-Pitzer 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 6 spot. Both Popovic and Oulette-Pitzer clinched their team's semifinal victories on Sunday.

No. 68-ranked freshman Aney kept the match interesting for the Tar Heels, after rallying from 0-3 first set deficit against Starr to take the match 7-6 (1), 6-4 to put the score at 3-3. 

Everything came down to the No. 5 singles match-up between No. 81 Olivia Hauger of Cal and Marika Akkerman of UNC. The two opponents split sets forcing the title to be decided by a third set battle. 

After some thrilling teetering back and forth, Hauger eventually pulled ahead to clinch the match 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 and earn the victory for the Golden Bears 

Cal, now 5-0 on the season, defeated host Wisconsin, No. 7 Virginia, and No. 16 Ohio State en route to the championship showdown with North Carolina, who was searching for its third ITA Indoors title in the last four years.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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