Maegan Manasse won on court No. 6 to clinch California's win.
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Sixth-seeded California booked its ticket to Athens, Georgia, with a 4-0 win against Pepperdine in the second round of the NCAA championship on Saturday at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Freshman Maegan Manasse clinched the contest contest -- Cal’s last home match of the season -- with a court-six singles victory. The Golden Bears ride a 14-match winning streak into the NCAA Round of 16, in which they will play Stanford on Thursday.
The Pac-12 champion Bears improved its record to 20-4 after beating Pepperdine, the WCC champion, which ended its season with a 19-5 record.
Just as in Friday’s first-round win against Fairleigh Dickinson, Cal came out strong in doubles. On court No. 2, the tandem of Manasse and freshman Denise Starr beat Michaela Capannolo/Yuki Chiang 8-2 in the first completed match. The duo of senior Anett Schutting and sophomore Lynn Chi then secured the doubles point with an 8-3 victory versus Lorraine Guillermo/Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai on court No. 1. The No. 3 battle featuring Cal sophomore Klara Fabikova and senior Kelly Chui taking on Ale Granillo/Matea Cutura was abandoned with the score at 4-4.
The Waves fought hard in singles, winning first sets on court Nos. 1 and 2. On No. 1, Guillermo took the first set 6-4 against Starr, while on No. 2, Cutura also won the first set 6-4 against junior Zsofi Susanyi. Granillo pushed Schutting to a first-set tiebreaker on court No. 3, but Schutting prevailed 7-6(1).
Cal got all three singles points from court Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Chi collected the first win -- a 6-1, 6-2 result against Capannolo on court No. 4 -- to give Cal a 2-0 lead in the overall score. On court No. 5, Fabikova followed with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Chiang. Manasse clinched with her 7-5, 6-2 win against Runglerdkriangkrai.
