The women’s tennis trio will represent the United States at the World University Games

ANGELS The UCLA and SMU standouts will make up the Team USA tennis contingent that will gather in Chengdu, China for the upcoming 2023 FISU World University Games. The international event starts with the opening ceremony on July 28. The tennis matches start the next day.

The Bruins are represented by the women’s All-Americans Kimmy Hance and Elise Wagle. The team is coached by UCLA’s assistant head coach for women’s tennis Rance Brown. Men’s tennis Mustangs Callaway Clark, Louis Cloud and Liam Krall are on the list for women’s team Taylor Johnson.

At the helm is Brown, who recently completed his 26th year on the UCLA staff. He has coached 34 All-Americans, including the 2023 NCAA Singles Champion Fangran Tian. Also helping out off the court is Hannah Letow, SMU tennis assistant athletic trainer.

Returning juniors Hance and Wagle, who earned a spot in the 2023 NCAA doubles field and were named the Pac-12 Fours Team of the Year, will travel to the Bruins. Each also set a new career record for singles wins in 2023, with Hance going 22-15 and Wagle going 15-5.

Krall, who was named the AAC Player of the Year and singles All-AAC in 2022, joins Clark as two SMU commits going overseas. Krall and Clark battled to a 4-2 doubles record last season, including a win over Texas A&M’s 32nd-ranked doubles team in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Junior Cloud completes the SMU men’s team’s trio that will compete in the Games. Cloud is coming off a 2022-23 sophomore campaign where he secured the AAC title for the Mustangs with a victory in the finals.

Johnson, who was a member of UCLA’s team before joining SMU as a graduate student for the 2022-23 season, rounds out the athletes selected to represent Team USA. Johnson finished his career with AAC All-Conference and AAC Championships top performer selections in his lone year with the Mustangs.

Krall and Cloud are projected to compete in men’s singles, while Hance and Johnson will do the same on the women’s side. Hance plans to play with Wagle in the women’s doubles, while Krall and Clark pose as a familiar duo for the US men. SMU’s Clark teams up with UCLA’s Wagle to represent the USA in mixed doubles.