Stanford's Gordon, Cal's Kikuchi earn big Pac-12 honors

Michaela Gordon, playing in qualifying in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger,
was named the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year as a Stanford sophomore.
Photo by Rob Vomund

   Stanford's Michaela Gordon, a sophomore from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area,
 was named the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year on Monday.
   Cal's Yuta Kikuchi, meanwhile, was picked as the Freshman/Newcomer of the Year today.
   Gordon, who earned 2018 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and Doubles Team of the Year honors, joined UCLA's Robin Anderson (2011-15) as the only women to win all three major Pac-12 awards.
   Gordon, ranked No. 24 nationally, is 22-9 in the top two singles spots with a seven-match winning streak, including six over ranked players.
   Third-ranked Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, placed three women on the six-player All-Pac-12 first team. Joining Gordon were seniors Caroline Lampl of Leesburg, Va., and Melissa Lord of Bloomfield, Conn.
   Stanford's Emily Arbuthnott, a junior from England, and Cal's Julia Rosenqvist, a sophomore from Sweden, made the six-player second team.
   Cal's Olivia Hauger, a senior from Tulsa, Okla., and Anna Bright, a sophomore from Boca Raton, Fla., received honorable mention.
   Kikuchi, from Japan, played No. 1 singles for most of the season, compiling a 20-14 record. He is ranked No. 28 in doubles with sophomore Jacob Brumm.
   Stanford's Axel Geller, a sophomore from Argentina, made the first team. Selected for the second team were the Cardinal's Alexandre Rotsaert, a freshman from Boca Raton, and Kikuchi.
   Stanford's William Genesen, a junior from Tulsa, Okla., received honorable mention.