SAN FRANCISCO – UCLA men's tennis sophomore Keegan Smith earned Pac-12 Player of the Week recognition for the week of April 15-21, the conference announced Tuesday.
Smith clinched the Bruins' fourth consecutive undefeated run through the Pac-12 regular-season schedule Saturday, holding off No. 24 Arizona's Filip Malbasic in three sets on Court 2 for a 4-1 victory at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The win marked the sophomore's second of the week, having earlier beaten Dominik Kellovsky of Arizona State in straight sets on Court 2, and ninth in a row dating back to March 14. The Bruins defeated the Sun Devils 4-2.
In locking up the conference's regular-season crown, UCLA holds the No. 1 spot in the upcoming Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif. The Bruins will begin play Thursday against Utah or Oregon. First serve from Libbey Park is set for 12 p.m., with Pac-12 Bay Area providing live coverage.
Smith also teamed with Maxime Cressy to complete an undefeated regular season in doubles play, as the pair knocked off two nationally-ranked pairs to improve to 13-0 on the top court. In beating No. 11 Kellovsky-Nathan Ponwith of ASU and No. 71 Igor Karpovets-Jonas Ziverts of Arizona, Smith-Cressy earned UCLA's first win each day. The pair is now 8-0 versus nationally-ranked opponents.
The award marks the first of the season for Smith and second of the San Diego native's career. UCLA men's tennis has captured 42 weekly awards as a program and a league-best four this season. Cressy (March 12, April 2) and Govind Nanda (April 16) previously won in 2019. UCLA's Abi Altick received the women's award Tuesday, marking the eighth time that Bruins have swept the honors and second this year (April 2 – Maxime Cressy, Jada Hart).
ALSO NOMINATED: Andrea Bolla, ARIZONA STATE; Ben Draper, CALIFORNIA; Alex Rotsaert, STANFORD; Laurens Verboven, USC.
2018-19 PAC-12 MEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
| Week of | Men's POTW |
| Jan. 22 | Tim Ruehl, Arizona State |
| Jan. 28 | Brandon Holt, USC |
| Feb. 5 | Thomas Laurent, Oregon |
| Feb. 12 | Dan Little, Utah |
| Feb. 19 | Axel Geller, Stanford |
| Feb. 26 | Thomas Laurent, Oregon |
| March 5 | Russell Benkaim, Utah |
| March 12 | Maxime Cressy, UCLA |
| March 19 | Brandon Holt, USC |
| March 26 | Mor Bulis, USC |
| April 2 | Maxime Cressy, UCLA |
| April 9 | Dan Little, Utah |
| April 16 | Govind Nanda, UCLA |
| April 23 | Keegan Smith, UCLA |