New-Look Ojai Tennis Tournament to Feature
First Big Ten Women’s Championships

For more than a century, the Ojai Tennis Tournament has been a time capsule of tradition, the kind of place where legends are born under the California sun. But this year, a new chapter begins.

While some things never change and the familiar freshly squeezed orange juice will be handed out to patrons young and old, and tea will still be poured from the silver china urns at the Tea Tent, for the first time ever at the 123rd annual event there will be new school banners lifted in historic Libbey Park. 

When the first ball is struck on an unprecedented Wednesday of play beginning at 9:00 a.m., The Ojai will throw down the red carpet and welcome the Big Ten Conference for the playing of its first postseason event. The nation’s oldest collegiate conference began, ironically, the same year the first Ojai Tennis Tournament was held back in 1896.

“Welcoming the Big Ten Conference to The Ojai represents a new chapter in our 125-plus year history,” Ojai Valley Tennis Club President Carolyn Burke said. “To host the Big Ten’s postseason event in a place so rooted in tennis history – it’s something really special, and the whole town feels it.” 

Big Ten Takes the Stage

The NCAA No. 3-ranked University of Michigan (22-3, 13-0 Big Ten) on Saturday clinched its third straight outright Big Ten championship defeating Michigan State, 4-0 and finished its regular season a perfect 11-0. Coached by Ronni Bernstein, the Maize and Blue are led by No. 1 player and senior Julia Fliegner. She is No. 3 in the nation and was a singles semi finalist at the 2024-25 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships, advancing further than any Big Ten counterpart.

For the second-straight season, Ohio State University (18-3, 12-1) earned the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament, dropping just a single match in conference play (4-1 vs. Michigan on April 16). The University of Washington (19-3, 11-2) landed the No. 3 seed while UCLA (10-3, 15-7), which claimed the last of the tournament’s byes into the quarterfinal round, is seeded No. 4. The Bruins are No. 19 in the ITA rankings and will play in their first Big Ten Tournament this week, starting with a noon match on Thursday against either No. 5 Wisconsin or No. 12 Penn State. 

The 2025 Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament schedule at The Ojai is as follows: 

> WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23
Match 1 (#8 Maryland vs. #9 Iowa) – 9:00 a.m. PT
Match 2 (#5 Wisconsin vs. #12 Penn State) – Noon PT
Match 3 (#7 Illinois vs. #10 Northwestern) – 3:00 p.m. PT
Match 4 (#6 USC vs. #11 Michigan State) – 6:00 p.m. PT 

> THURSDAY, APRIL 24 (QUARTERFINALS)
Match 5 (#1 Michigan vs. Match 1 winner) – 9:00 a.m. PT
Match 6 (#4 UCLA vs. Match 2 winner) – Noon PT
Match 7 (#2 Ohio State vs. Match 3 winner) – 3:00 p.m. PT
Match 8 (#3 Washington vs. Match 4 winner) – 6:00 p.m. PT 

> FRIDAY, APRIL 25 (SEMIFINALS)
Match 9 (Match 5 vs. Match 6 winner) – Noon PT
Match 10 (Match 7 vs. Match 8 winner) – 3:00 p.m. PT

> SATURDAY, APRIL 26 (CHAMPIONSHIP)
Match 11 (Match 9 vs. Match 10 winner) – 5:00 p.m. PT

It will be a familiar return to The Ojai for both the Bruins and USC Trojans, as well as several other coaches and players like Wisconsin senior Taylor Cataldi, from Corona. The Badgers’ No. 2 singles player grew up playing Ojai in the juniors and is also a SoCal Pro Series alum.

“I love how invested the whole community is in this event and how it truly makes it feel like a celebration of the sport,” said Cataldi, who played in the Girls’ 14’s, 16’s and Women’s Open divisions in 2016, 2017 and 2019, respectively. ”I always loved watching the Pac-12 players whenever I’d go play it, so it feels really special to know that I’ve accomplished that dream of mine and will now be one of the people I looked up to so much when I was younger. I look forward to going back home for one of my last ever college events. It really feels like a full-circle moment for my career and I want to try and enjoy every second of it that I can.”

This week also represents a return to The Ojai for Iowa head coach Sasha Boros, who grew up in Poway. “I followed the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai throughout the years and always knew that event was very meaningful to the Pac-12 student athletes and coaches,” Boros said. “So, when I heard the Big Ten tournament would be held in Ojai in 2025, I was so excited for our student athletes and coaches to experience the magic of Ojai.”

The exploits of UCLA Head Coach Stella Sampras-Webster at The Ojai are well documented, with Sampras-Webster having won Ojai titles in three different divisions – a Girls’ 18s singles crown in 1984, Pac-12 Conference doubles titles in 1989 and 1991 and the Women’s Open singles title in 1992.

But it’s not all about the Big Ten Conference this week as The Ojai is five events wrapped into one and includes junior divisions in the Boys’ and Girls’ 14s and 16s and Girls’ 18s singles and doubles. Here’s a quick look at the other top divisions.

To follow along with each match, check out the live scoring link here. 

Boys’ CIF Division

The Boys’ CIF division starts on Thursday at Thacher School and various sites around Ojai. The finals will take place at Libbey Park on Saturday at 11 am. Top seeds are as follows:

> SINGLES: 1. Lorenzo Brunkow (Palisades), 2. Cayden Wang (Crean Lutheran), 3. Rishvanth Krishna (University/Irvine), 4. Brayden Tallakson (Woodbridge), 5. Jeremy Sieben (Flintridge Prep), 6. Matteo Huarte (Mater Dei), 7. Kristian Sharma (Granada Hills), 8. Jovan Pedroza (Los Alamitos).

> DOUBLES: 1. David Tran-Trevor Nguyen (Marina), 2. Caden Lee-Zhiyu Yuan (Beckman), 3. Braun Levi-Cooper Schwartz (Loyola), 4. Colin Bringas-Edward Feuer (Peninsula), 5. Caleb Scott -Neel Joshi (Palisades), 6. Chase Klugo-Christian Stubbeman (Harvard-Westlake), 7. Hudson Spezialy-Jacob Truong (Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks), 8. Humam Alajeely-JiHyuk Im (University/Irvine).

CCCAA

The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) dual team state title matches will take place Wednesday at Ventura College. The individuals begin on Thursday.

The CCCAA Dual State Championships will take place on Wednesday at Ventura College, featuring a pair of exciting matchups. In the women’s final at 10:00 a.m., the undefeated No. 1 seeds from each region — American River (17-0) from the north and Bakersfield (19-0) from the south — will battle for the state title. The men’s final follows at 1:00 p.m., with northern No. 2 seed Foothill (11-2) taking on southern No. 4 seed Irvine Valley (12-2).

Stay up to date with all the action — follow the men’s tournament here and catch every moment of the women’s competition here.

Men’s & Women’s Open Division

Once again, the Open division will hand out a total of $20,000 in prize money equally to the men and women in singles and doubles with main-draw action taking place at the Ojai Valley Inn on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and qualifying on Tuesday at the Ojai Athletic Club.

Former WTA player and current San Diego-based teaching professional Chanel Simmonds has dominated the women’s event by winning the last three singles titles, the doubles in 2022 and making it to the finals in doubles last year. Other top seeds include former University of Wisconsin player Ava Markam, former UNC-Charlotte player Lucia Ouiterio and Orange Lutheran freshman Sophie Suh from Orange. On the men’s side, top players include last year’s singles winner Alessandro Ventre from Santa Ana, Santa Monica’s Maciej Rajski, San Diego’s Lucas Gomez and the former Pepperdine star and Santa Barbara native Stefan Menichella.

The finals schedule for Sunday is as follows: Women’s singles final, 9 a.m.; Men’s singles final, 10:30 a.m.; Women’s doubles, 1:00 p.m.; Men’s doubles, 2:30 p.m.

For draws and schedules, check out the tournament website at www.TheOjai.net.