BERKELEY – The California men's tennis team sent several Golden Bears to compete in the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco starting Thursday and sends three Bears to play in the Napa Valley Invitational starting Friday. Both tournaments end on Sunday.
 
Lucas Magnaudet advanced to the singles main draw of the Battle in the Bay Classic – held at the California Tennis Club – by reaching the main draw singles final at the recent Battle in the Bay Qualifier at Cal. The Bears joining Magnaudet in San Francisco are Ryder Jackson, Yuta Kikuchi and Carl Emil Overbeck. Kikuchi and Overbeck join Magnaudet in the singles main draw. Also, Magnaudet pairs with Jackson while Kikuchi and Overbeck team up in the doubles main draw.
 
Players from several schools – host San Francisco, Cal, Georgia, USC, Pepperdine, Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona, Fresno State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Michigan, Pacific, San Diego, TCU, UC Santa Barbara, Portland, Hawaii, Stanford and Saint Mary's – will vie for singles and doubles titles in the 13th annual Battle in the Bay Classic.
 
Fans can follow the action in the Battle in the Bay Classic through the live stream by clicking here.
 
Cal will be represented by Alex Chang, John Kim and Mikey Wright in the Napa Valley Invitational, which will take place at the Silverado Resort and Spa. Players from UNLV and San Diego State will also compete at Silverado
 
Bears Shine In BITB Qualifier
Lucas Magnaudet reached the singles final of the Battle in the Bay Qualifier and advanced to the singles main draw of the Battle in the Bay Classic, as the qualifying tournament came to a close on Sept. 17 in Berkeley. The event had been scheduled to conclude on Sept. 18, but officials ended the tournament a day early due to rain in the forecast.
 
Magnaudet defeated UNLV's sixth-seeded Maxim Verboven, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and beat Stanford's seventh-seeded Neel Rajesh, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, in the semifinals. James Watt of Saint Mary's, the other singles finalist, also advanced to play in San Francisco.
 
In doubles, the Cal pair of Derrick Chen and John Kim, seeded second, won twice on Sept. 17 to reach the final. Chen, a sophomore, and Kim, a freshman, defeated UNLV's Aaron Bailey and Dusan Rsovac, 8-1, in the quarterfinal round and then beat the duo of Cal sophomore Mikey Wright and Andrei Volgin of UC Davis, 8-5, in the semifinals. The Bears would have faced Watt and Thibaud Maxant of Saint Mary's in the final, after the Gaels knocked off Magnaudet and Alex Chang in the semis, 8-4. With Kim and Chen withdrawing, Maxant and Watt qualified for the Battle in the Bay Classic.
 
Poll Position
Cal boasts a pair of ITA preseason rankings, with Yuta Kikuchi at No. 62 in singles and the pair of sophomore Carl Emil Overbeck and newcomer Siddhant Banthia – a graduate transfer from Wake Forest – ranked No. 30 in doubles.
 
Next Time
The Bears will split the squad again next week, when one Cal contingent plays in the Aggie Invitational (Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at UC Davis) and another competes in a 15K Futures tournament in New Mexico (Sept. 26-Oct. 1 in Albuquerque).
 
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