With unmatched intensity, Clackamas’ Lauren Han is The Oregonian/OregonLive girls tennis player of the year

The 2024 season was a redemption tour for Clackamas’ Lauren Han.

Her junior season ended with heartbreak, as Han fell in two sets (7-5, 6-1) to Westview’s Neema Feldman. The two had also battled in the 2022 singles state championship match as well, which Han won 6-3, 6-4.

But after stomaching the second-place finish in 2023, Han needed to get back to the top.

And how was she going to do it?

Well, she needed to loosen up.

“Last year, I feel like I just played really tight,” Han said. “I definitely felt the pressure. This year I just I feel like I managed it better.”

And if the mental aspect of tennis is what Han needed to worry about more, then it’s a good thing that that’s what she’s best at. At least, that’s what Han’s coaches say about her.

“She was definitely singly-focused this year,” Clackamas tennis coach Charles Hahn said. “Neena was on a mission not to lose last year. There was never a moment this year, after the final last year, she wasn’t going to win it this year. There was never a doubt.”

Hahn and Clackamas girls coach Satomi Tsumura agreed that Han’s strength on the court has always been her mental toughness.

Hahn compared Han to Roger Federer in the way that both are laser focused in their competition and also seem to effortlessly move around on the court.

“Lauren kind of glides. She’s so competitive,” he said. “She’s not going to miss. She locks it down.”

Hahn also compared Han to Zhenya Pereverzin, who won four state championships for Clackamas from 2007 to 2010. He’s one of just two boys tennis players to win four state championships.

Hahn said both Pereverzin and Han had that same level of mental intensity to them when they were playing.

“What made my guy so strong and Lauren so strong is focus and intensity. That’s what separates the elite players. She’s pretty impressive.”

Hahn’s first time seeing Han play at a high level, he said, came in the winter 2021 workouts. Han was playing against a member of the Clackamas boys team who was very promising.

Hahn said Han was in full control in the match.

“She beat him 6-2 and he never wanted to play her again,” Hahn said, laughing. “He went on to play in college too.”

With Han graduating this spring, and heading to Dartmouth to compete collegiately, the Clackamas girls tennis team will have some rebuilding to do. The only other member of the Cavaliers that competed at the state tournament this spring was freshman Emily Hoang.

Regardless of what the Cavaliers will look like moving forward, the coaches agreed that the team is better having had Han around for four years.

“She’s a very smart girl,” Tsumura said. “Our other coaches always compliment on her that she’s a very smart girl. Very bright and always a good attitude.”

The Player of the Year award was selected by the Oregonian/OregonLive staff and contracted freelancers who cover the games.

— Nik Streng, nstreng@oregonian.com, @NikStreng

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More athlete of the year content

• Girls golf (announced May 23)
• Boys golf (announced May 24)
• Girls track and field (announced May 28)
• Boys tennis (announcing June 5)
• Baseball (announcing June 8)
• Softball (announcing June 9)