Hance Named Pac-12 Player of the Week for Second Time This Season

SAN FRANCISCO – Kimmi Hance of the UCLA women’s tennis team was selected Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of April 17-23, the conference announced Tuesday.

Hance and the Bruins ended the regular season with a bang, outlasting USC 4-3 while overtaking their crosstown rival in the Pac-12 standings entering postseason play. Hance was the last player standing in the April 21 win, coming all the way back to defeat Snow Han 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and set off a celebration on Court 2.

Hance and partner Elise Wagle also clinched the doubles point against the Trojans, beating the 39th-ranked combination of Han and Naomi Cheong 6-3 on the top court while extending their winning stream to seven. Earlier in the week, Hance was again victorious on the singles and doubles courts, completing her day with a 6-3, 6-2 result over Kelly Leung of UC San Diego on Court 1 (April 18).

With UCLA’s 5-2 win versus the Tritons, head coach Stella Sampras Webster secured the 500th victory of her illustrious career. The Bruins won seven of their final eight regular-season matches.

The Pac-12 Player of the Week honor represents the second of Hance’s career. She was previously recognized for the week of March 13-19, during which UCLA beat USC in non-conference play. The Bruins have collected four of the awards in 2023, with Fangran Tian (April 10-16) and Sasha Vagramov (March 6-12) also each receiving acclaim. UCLA now has 40 all-time weekly accolades from the conference and is the only program with more than three this season.

ALSO NOMINATED: Alexandra Yepifanova, STAN; Kaila Barksdale, UTAH; Hikaru Sato, WASH.

2023 PAC-12 WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK