BERKELEY – California men's tennis star Yuta Kikuchi was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Tuesday, the conference office announced. The Pac-12 lauded the Golden Bear graduate student after he led the then-No. 43 Cal to conference victories over No. 28 UCLA and No. 10 USC in the last regular-season home matches of his career.
 
This is the second Pac-12 Player of the Week accolade for Kikuchi, who first garnered the honor in the spring of 2022. Including his last two wins, the Yahaba, Japan, native is ranked 29th in the latest ITA singles poll.
 
Against the Bruins on Friday, Kikuchi defeated Patrick Zahraj, 6-4, 6-2, at court-one singles to clinch Cal's win. Kikuchi also partnered with senior Philip Hjorth to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 win over UCLA's Jeffrey Fradkin and Aadarsh Tripathi on court three.
 
On Saturday, in possibly his last match as a collegian at the Hellman Tennis Complex, the 37th-ranked Kikuchi beat USC's 35th-ranked Stefan Dostanic, 6-3, 6-1. That win gave Cal a 1-1 tie with the Trojans and started a comeback that resulted in Cal's 4-3 triumph.

Kikuchi and the now 29th-ranked Bears (11-7, 3-2 Pac-12) next play at No. 20 Stanford (12-7, 3-2) in the Big Slam on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
 
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