The Cal men’s tennis team ended its fall season with an overall dominating performance at the St. Mary’s Invitational last weekend. Freshman Christoffer Konigsfeldt won the singles draw, two other Bears players made the singles semifinals, and it was an all-Cal doubles final (before rain delays canceled it). Yet, the Bears don’t have another tournament or match until Jan. 16 against Southern Methodist.

“It’s difficult to go two to two-and-a-half months without a real competitive match,” junior Zach Gilbert said.

Coach Peter Wright said that the offseason is an opportunity for players to rest and get healthy for spring season. They will also, of course, hit the books so they can win the Newmark Award — presented to the sports team with the highest GPA — for the second consecutive semester.

But the Bears are going to play plenty of tennis, too.

Some of the players plan on participating in local, non-ITA affiliated tournaments. In addition, even though Cal does not have any official practices with Wright until January, the team will, as always, practice on its own. Only this year won’t be as lackadaisical as previous years.

“Last couple of years (our practice) was not quite serious enough … we played lots of mini tennis,” Gilbert said. “Don’t slack off before spring. This year, it’s our goal to make it more like real practice.”

With the determined, no-nonsense Pedro Zerbini running practice, Cal should be ready for the dual season.

“Were going to keep working hard, practice two to two-and-a-half hours a day, three or four times a week,” Zerbini said. “We’ll play a lot of matches, a lot of hitting. We’ll stay in shape, keep healthy. Hopefully, when (the dual season starts), we’ll be playing our best tennis.”

As one of just two seniors on the Cal men’s tennis team, Eoin Heavey is one of the Bears’ most experienced players. After fighting an elbow injury for the better part of the season, the senior from Ireland is finally back in action.

“I got surgery in November, and I didn’t play for maybe a month and a half, so I’ve just been working on it very hard,” Heavey said.

Heavey is slated to play in Cal’s lineup this weekend at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Raleigh, N.C.

“It’s been a long time so I’m very anxious to get back out there,” Heavey said.

Coach Peter Wright said that having his captain back in the lineup will give the Bears a big boost as the season really starts to escalate.

“Eoin’s been one of our most seasoned veterans and we’re just looking forward to having him back into the lineup,” Wright said.

Check out the results of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on the Daily Cal website or the ITA Website.

The 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships kick-off today with No. 31 Cal (12-10, 4-3 in the Pac-10) taking on No. 36 Boise State (21-11, 2-2 in the WAC). The match will be played at Marks Stadium, USC’s home court because the Trojans are the high seed of their side of the bracket.
The Bears and Broncos are both hard working teams and it will come down to whichever team makes less mistakes. (Click here to read more…)

In a world where mediocrity in sports is celebrated (see the CBI) sometimes true achievements get lost in the fray.

This was the case last Saturday when coach Peter Wright achieved his 200^th career win with the Bears. When Cal defeated No. 15 Arizona State 4-3 last week (an equally impressive feat) there were no streamers or balloons, no camera crews or press conference, just another hard fought victory for a great tennis coach. (Click here to read more…)

Once again the Cal men’s tennis team couldn’t produce on the top three courts, resulting in a 4-3 loss to No. 13 Pepperdine (10-6) on Wednesday.

In a match that was closer than the score indicates, the Waves grabbed the first four points of the day before the Bears even knew what hit ‘em. The Cal freshmen then cleaned up on the lower courts to make the final result look somewhat presentable. (Click here to read more…)

I have to admit, after watching Cal men’s tennis dismantle UNLV on Tuesday I was impressed. I wasn’t surprised by the result, seeing as the Bears have shutout three out of their last four opponents, but just impressed to see Cal firing on all cylinders.

However, I was surprised by senior Pierre Mouillon, and it wasn’t because of his court performance.

Mouillon came out yesterday sporting a new clean cut hairdo—an improvement from the shaggy look he has sported for most of his tenure with the Bears. (Click here to read more…)