Thursday, March 28

Six UCLA tennis players receive Pac-12 conference honors


Senior Maxime Cressy has received a number of Pac-12 honors over his men's tennis career in addition to those from this season. Cressy was named an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and has received the Pac-12 Player of the Week acclaim five times. (Xuxin Zhang/Daily Bruin)


A number of Bruins received conference honors days after advancing to the second weekend of the NCAA championships.

UCLA men’s tennis and women’s tennis each had three members receive Pac-12 conference honors for the records they posted during the regular season.

From men’s tennis, senior Maxime Cressy and sophomore Keegan Smith were named the Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year in addition to receiving individual honors, while freshman Govind Nanda was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team.

Cressy and Smith’s selection as the best doubles duo in the Pac-12 marks the fourth consecutive year that UCLA has claimed the honor. The partnership holds a 16-0 dual-match record when playing as the No. 1 doubles team in the lineup this season and holds the No. 2 spot in the NCAA partnership rankings.

Cressy and Smith both were named to the All-Pac-12 First Team for their individual efforts. Cressy has a 14-3 record, typically playing at the No. 1 spot in the singles lineup – with Stanford’s No. 8-ranked Axel Geller being his highest-ranked opponent of the season. Smith has posted a 23-5 singles record this season and is currently on a 12-match winning streak.

Nanda has claimed 17 dual-match victories at No. 3 singles this season and won 11 of 12 matches from Feb. 23 to April 25. Nanda has played at the No. 2 doubles spot in the lineup with redshirt sophomore Connor Rapp.

On the women’s side, redshirt junior Jada Hart and freshman Elysia Bolton both earned All-Pac-12 First Team honors, marking the first time two Bruins made the team in the same season since 2014.

Hart and Bolton have tallied 28 doubles wins, including 12 of their last 13 matches. In singles, Hart went 9-1 from Feb. 24 to April 3 and holds a team-high 30 doubles victories.

Bolton – who was also named Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year – has notched a team-best 26 singles wins, including 10 against nationally ranked teams. Bolton is currently ranked No. 32 nationally and is likely to compete in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in Orlando, Florida.

Senior Ayan Broomfield earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and is 18-10 in singles matches on the season.

On Friday, women’s tennis will face Washington in the second round of the NCAA championship while men’s tennis will take on Baylor.

Sports senior staff

McCarthy is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was an assistant Sports editor in 2018-2019 for the men's tennis, women's soccer, track and field and men's volleyball beats. McCarthy was previously a reporter on the men's volleyball and men's water polo beats. He is a third-year English and history student from Atlanta, Georgia. McCarthy is an avid Tottenham Hotspur and Conor McGregor fan.


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