SAN DIEGO – Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle of the UCLA women’s tennis team won the ITA Southwest Regional Championships doubles title Monday, earning a spot in November’s National Fall Championships.
The Bruins defeated the nation’s sixth-ranked combination, Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen of Pepperdine, in the final. It was a tightly-contested affair, as Hance and Wagle prevailed in a third-set tiebreaker for the difference. The 7-5, 2-6, 1-0(7) decision represented their second match to go the difference in as many days, as the sophomores narrowly eliminated Kailey Evans and Elizabeth Goldsmith of the University of San Diego Sunday.
Play was held at USD and San Diego State, with Monday’s finals taking place at the Aztec Tennis Center.
Hance and Wagle’s victory against the Waves also marked their second of the tournament against a nationally-ranked opponent. The quarterfinals saw them take down No. 22 Patricija Spaka and Domenika Turkovic of Arizona State 8-3.
Wagle and Vanessa Ong collected the ITA Southwest Regional Championships doubles crown in 2021.
Hance also advanced to the final round of singles competition, where her run was stopped Monday by the 49th-ranked Broadus 6-0, 6-3. En route to the championship match, No. 98 Hance earned five wins in four days, including a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of No. 69 Turkovic. Hance would go on to beat Amelia Honer of UC Santa Barbara in straight sets and used a comeback effort to top Emma Charney of USC in subsequent rounds.
The ITA National Fall Championships, scheduled for Nov. 3-6, will take place at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
ITA Southwest Regional Championships
10/20-10/24/2022 at San Diego, CA (Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center)
| Singles competition | |
| Main Draw | |
| 128 | Diana Yanotoskaya (Cal State Fullerton) def. Caroline Goldberg (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4 |
| 64 | Ana Vilcek (Hawai’i) def. Sasha Vagramov (UCLA) 7-5, 6-2 |
| 64 | #98 Kimmi Hance (UCLA) def. Anali Kocevar (Grand Canyon) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4 |
| 64 | Fangran Tian (UCLA) def. Sloane Morra (USC) 6-0, 6-3 |
| 64 | A. Lutkemeyer (UCLA) def. Natalie Duffy (Cal State Fullerton) 7-5, 6-2 |
| 64 | Vanessa Ong (UCLA) def. Dania Deaifi (Grand Canyon) 6-0, 6-4 |
| 64 | Ava… |
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