The California Golden Bears women’s tennis team began their 2026 season with a strong showing at the Cal Winter Invitational, winning seven out of nine matches on Friday. The tournament is being held at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts in Berkeley.
All-American Berta Passola Folch, who was the NCAA singles runner-up in November, led the team. She overcame Stanford’s Monika Ekstrand after dropping the first set, securing a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory. Passola Folch also teamed up with sophomore Naomi Xu to win their doubles match against Cal Poly’s Kennedy Buntrock and Jessica MacCallum by a score of 6-4.
In singles play, Mille Johanna Moerk defeated Jessica MacCallum (Cal Poly) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Laura Cilekova beat Natalie Lynch (Cal Poly) 6-3, 6-1; and Tiziana-Marie Schomburg won against Candela Aparisi (Cal Poly) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. Anya Murthy lost her singles match to Kennedy Buntrock (Cal Poly) in three sets.
The Bears swept all three of their doubles matches. Alongside Passola Folch/Xu’s win, Moerk/Schomburg beat Aparisi/Lynch (Cal Poly) by a dominant score of 6-0 and Cilekova/Murthy topped Sarah MacCallum/Alexandra Ozerets (Cal Poly), also by a score of 6-0.
The Cal Winter Invitational will continue on Saturday at 11 a.m. PT and conclude on Sunday.
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