The No. 8 Cal men’s tennis team’s loss to No. 9 University of North Carolina at the round of 16 not only marked the end of the Bears’ 2017 season, but also the end of an era.

While the pursuit of a singles and doubles title is still in play for these individuals, the loss to the Tar Heels was the last time seniors Filip Bergevi, Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat would participate in team play as Cal athletes. By month’s end, this trio will have to walk away from their playing collegiate playing days for good.

Bergevi, Goransson and Lakat’s farewells to Cal following their respective tenures with the team won’t be easy, but the seniors can depart knowing the future of their team is in good hands.

The Tennis Ranking Network has determined that the Cal tennis team’s incoming freshman recruiting class is the best in the nation. The website’s group of panelists awarded the Bears 13 out of 22 first-place votes and 532 points out of a possible 550 points. Cal was also ranked first in the winter rankings, just beating out Florida by one point for the top spot.

Cal’s six-man recruiting class consists of Jacob Brumm, Paul Barretto, Ben Draper, Jack Molloy, Jackson Suh and Thomas Wright. A couple family connections exist within this incoming group; Paul Barretto is the younger brother of current freshman Dominic Barretto and Thomas Wright is the son of head coach Peter Wright.

Headlining the incoming class are a pair of blue chip prospects in Brumm and Barretto. Brumm, who signed his letter of intent to join the Bears in November 2016, is ranked as the seventh-best senior in the nation and helped lead his high school to a win at the San Diego Section Open Division. Barretto currently sits in the rankings as 17th-best senior in the nation while Suh is ranked as the third-best senior in Washington state.

This group will join the Bears in the fall 2017 and seek to maintain the team’s current level of prominence.

Justice delos Santos is the sports editor. Contact him at [email protected]