Cal Loses to N.C. State in NCAA Women's Tennis Round of 16
Cal lost in the round of 16 of the NCAA women's tennis tournament for the second straight year, this time falling to North Carolina State 4-0 in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday.
The 11th-ranked Bears finished with an 18-8 record and won the Pac-12 regular-season title. But they could keep up with sixth-ranked North Carolina State on the Wolfpack's home courts.
North Carolina State will face Duke in the quarterfinals as the eight remaining teams will travel to the University of Illinois for the final three rounds.
The start of the Cal-Wolfpack match was delayed for three and half hours because of inclement weather in Raleigh. The Wolfpack (26-5) then took the doubles point by winning the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches.
North Carolina State quickly got within one point of clinching the match with quick victories at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Sophie Abrams defeated Cal's Erin Richardson 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 singles for the second Wolfpack point, and Amelia Rajecki made it 3-0 moments later with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over the Golden Bears' Hannah Viller Moeller.
But the other four singles matches were close, and each had completed just one set when the first two singles matches had been completed. At that point Cal's Katja Wiersholm had won the first set at No. 4 singles and the Bears' Jessica Alsola had taken the first set at No. 2 singles.
However, the Wolfpack clinched the match with a win at No. 3 singles as Priska Nugroho defeated Cal's Julia Rosenqvist 7-6, 6-1. Rosenqvist made Nugroho sweat a little in the final game as the Cal player rallied from an 0-40 deficit by winning three straight points to bring the score to 40-40. But on the fourth consecutive match point in the no-ad scoring system, Rosenqvist committed an error that gave Nugroho the match and gave North Carolina State the victory.
Cal has not gone past the round of 16 since 2016, when it advanced to the semifinals.
The results:
Doubles
No. 1 -- Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller, North Carolina State, def. Haley Giavara and Valentina Iavnov, Cal, 6-3
No. 2 -- Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm, Cal, led Amelia Rajecki and Abigail Rencheli, North Carolina State, 5-2 when the match was abandoned.
No. 3 -- Sophie Abrams and Priska Nogroho, North Carolina State, def. Erin Richardson and Julia Rosenqvist, Cal, 6-3.
Order of finish: No. 1, No. 2
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Singles
No. 1 -- Jaeda Daniel, North Carolina State, led Haley Giavara, Cal, 7-5, 4-1 when the match was abandoned
No. 2 -- Jessica Alsola, Cal, led Abigail Rencheli, North Carolina State, 7-5, 3-2 when the match was abandoned
No. 3 -- Priska Nogroho, North Carolina State, def. Julia Rosenqvist, Cal, 7-6, 6-1
No. 4 -- Katja Wiersholm, Cal, and Nell Miller, North Carolina State, were tied 6-4, 2-6, when the match was abandoned
No. 5 -- Amelia Rajecki, North Carolina State, def. Hannah Viller Moeller, Cal, 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 -- Sophie Abrams, North Carolina State, def. Erin Richardson, Cal, 6-2, 6-1.
Order of finish: No. 6, No. 5, No. 3
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Cover photo of Cal's Valentina Ivanov by the Pac-12 Conference
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