SAN FRANCISCO – Three members of the UCLA women’s tennis team were honored Thursday by the Pac-12, which announced its postseason award winners and All-Conference Teams.
The combination of Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle was voted Doubles Team of the Year. Fangran Tian was tabbed the league’s Freshman/Newcomer of the Year. Each of the three student-athletes also received All-Conference recognition. Tian made the First Team, Hance earned a spot on the Second Team and Wagle was an Honorable Mention pick.
Hance and Wagle enter the NCAA tournament ranked No. 7 nationally by the ITA after climbing to No. 4 – a career high for each player – to finish the regular season. The pair holds a record of 21-5, including a 14-3 mark in dual-match play. Hance and Wagle have spent the entirety of the dual-match calendar on the top doubles court. The sophomores have teamed to go 9-2 opposite nationally-ranked tandems, twice beating current No. 1 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen of Pepperdine. The first victory came in the final round of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships, as Hance and Wagle claimed the top prize (Oct. 24, 2022). Their second win against Broadus and Tjen clinched the doubles point – something Hance and Wagle have done a team-high seven times in 2023 – to help the Bruins take down the No. 5 Waves (April 12). Hance and Wagle were named to the NCAA doubles draw as a 5-8 seed Tuesday.
Tian is 15-0 in dual-match singles action (23-5 overall) entering NCAA play. She has occupied the top spot in the singles lineup exclusively, watching her ITA ranking climb along the way. After starting the dual-match season at No. 93, Tian now sits at No. 14 and received an invitation to the NCAA singles tournament as a 9-16 seed. She is 11-4 versus nationally-ranked players. Twice during dual-match play, Tian got the best of top-10 Madison Sieg of USC. Tian also took down No. 11 Janice Tjen of Pepperdine in a three-set thriller, giving UCLA a 4-3 win and the Beijing, China native her first career Pac-12 Player of the Week nod. Tian also prevailed in eight of her final nine doubles contests with partner Anne-Christine Lutkeyemer and is 12-5 in dual matches and 14-9 overall with three partners.
Tian is the first UCLA freshman to garner Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and First Team accolades in the same year since Elysia…
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