Kikuchi, Hjorth Earn All-Pac-12 Honors

MTEN5/4/2023 4:29 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – Yuta Kikuchi and Philip Hjorth of the California men’s tennis team earned All-Pac-12 honors two days ahead of the Golden Bears’ NCAA Championship opener, the conference announced on Thursday. Kikuchi, a graduate student, is on the first team, while Hjorth, a fifth-year senior, claimed an honorable mention.
 
Ranked 28th in the ITA singles poll this week, Kikuchi was named to the 64-player field for the NCAA Singles Championship, which runs May 22-27 in Orlando, Florida. Prior to that, Kikuchi, Hjorth and the Bears will compete in the NCAA Championship, starting with a first-round match against LSU in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
 
This is the third All-Pac-12 honor for Kikuchi, who collected second-team recognition in 2022 and in 2019, when he was also named the Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year. He brings a 16-8 record, including a 12-6 mark on court one, into the postseason. The Yahaba, Japan, native had a strong fall, which included capturing the first professional title of his career in the Norman Open in Oklahoma. Kikuchi has had an impressive 2023 as well. One of his first matches of the New Year was a 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 win over Duke’s fourth-ranked Garrett Johns in the Hawaii Invitational in January. He has clinched three Cal dual-match victories, including a 4-3 win over No. 13 Stanford on Jan. 20, a 6-1 rout of Pacific on Feb. 2 and a 4-0 blanking of No. 28 UCLA on April 7.
 
Hjorth and Kikuchi have spent much of the spring as doubles partners, compiling a 10-5 record, and the pair has clinched the doubles point in a few big matches, including in the win over the Bruins and in Cal’s 4-3 upset of No. 10 USC on April 8. Hjorth has produced a 14-5 overall doubles record and a 12-4 singles record. The Hrsholm, Denmark, product began his college career at Pacific, playing for the Tigers for his first two seasons, and then transferred to Cal, starting life as a Bear in the 2020-21 season. Hjorth has twice reached the singles quarterfinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, and in 2021 he earned the Sportsmanship Award at the Chowderfest, Harvard’s annual fall tournament.
 
Kikuchi, Hjorth and the 29th-ranked Bears take on 34th-ranked LSU on Saturday at 10 a.m….