Poldma Wins SoCal Singles And Doubles Titles
November 07, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Nov. 7, 2010
USC senior Jaak Poldma held up two championship plaques today at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships. The Trojan swept through the past couple days of singles play and capped off the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 win over UCLA's Max Ta Ba Truong in today's singles title match. On the doubles court, Poldma teamed up to success with JT Sundling. Together, the senior-sophomore combo served up an upset of the top seeds to claim the doubles championship as well, rounding out a USC sweep in the tournament in Westwood, Calif.
Poldma and Sundling both had busy days today. Poldma's double duty was on the main draw courts, with the senior plowing through his Bruin opponent to stand tall as the SoCal Intercollegiate singles champion with his straight-set victory. Poldma and Sundling's winning work on the doubles court completed the title sweep for the Trojans, putting two crowns to Poldma's name on the day. Sundling also had business to attend to on the singles courts in the consolation bracket, having taken a first-round loss in the main draw on Day One. Sundling fell in a third-set pro set decider to UCLA's Daniel Kosakowski, but the Trojan still holds the high honors as a doubles champ with Poldma.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, USC junior Steve Johnson took aim at becoming just the fourth player to claim back-to-back singles titles at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships. Johnson had pinned up some smooth wins on his way into today's title match, which put the Trojan up against Tennessee's Rhyne Williams - a familiar foe from last year's NCAA singles competition. Williams was able to push past Johnson again in this one, taking the championship from the Trojan with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 decision.
Other than Johnson's quarterfinal clash with an upset-minded Austen Childs of Louisville, Johnson advanced to the final nearly untested, surrendering a mere 12 games through his four other matches. Johnson knew that Williams, known for his ability to get fired up for big matches, would be no easy defeat. In fact, the title tilt against the sophomore Volunteer would be a rematch from the first round of the 2010 NCAA Championships, a match Williams would go on to win in straight sets.
Williams lost serve two times and fell behind 0-5 to start the first set 6-1, but the roles were reversed in the second set when Williams rolled past Johnson, delivering the same 6-1 result. With the crowd nervously watching both finals matches simultaneously, separated by only one court between them, the USC players held a slight edge early in both of the third sets until finally Williams got his break on Johnson at 4-4 and was able to grind out the win.
Full National Indoors and SoCal Intercollegiate scores for the Trojans are below.
2010 USTA/ITA NATIONAL INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
(USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center - Flushing, N.Y.)
MEN'S SINGLES
Round of 32 - Nov. 4
[7] Steve Johnson (USC) def. Will Spencer (UGA) -- 6-2, 6-4
Round of 16 - Nov. 5
[7] Steve Johnson (USC) def. Enej Bonin (DEN) -- 6-1, 6-0
Quarterfinals - Nov. 5
[7] Steve Johnson (USC) def. Austen Childs (LOU) -- 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4
Semifinals - Nov. 6
[7] Steve Johnson (USC) def. Blaz Rola (OhSt) -- 6-1, 6-4
Championship - Nov. 7
Rhyne Williams (TENN) def. [7] Steve Johnson (USC) - 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
2010 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERCOLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Westwood, Calif.)
SINGLES
Round of 32 - Nov. 4
Michael Grant (USC) def. Steven Henderson (UCI) -- 6-4, 6-4
[5] Peter Lucassen (USC) def. Quoc Doan (UCR) -- 6-2, 6-1
Warren Hardie (UCLA) def. JT Sundling (USC) -- 6-3, 6-4
[4] Jaak Poldma (USC) def. Nils Schive (USD) -- 6-3, 6-2
[5] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Daniel Simko (LMU) -- 6-1, 6-1
Round of 16 - Nov. 5
Max Ta Ba Truong (UCLA) def. Michael Grant (USC) -- 6-3, 6-2
[5] Peter Lucassen (USC) def. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) -- 6-1, 6-4
[4] Jaak Poldma (USC) def. Clay Thompson (UCLA) -- 6-7, 7-6, 7-6
Jenson Turner (PEP) def. [5] Ray Sarmiento (USC) -- 6-3, 6-2
Quarterfinals - Nov. 5
[3] Alex Llompart (PEP) def. [5] Peter Lucassen (USC) -- 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
[4] Jaak Poldma (USC) def. Warren Hardie (UCLA) -- 7-6, 7-5
Semifinals - Nov. 6
[4] Jaak Poldma (USC) def. Alex Konigsfeldt (UCSB) -- 6-3, 6-2
Championship - Nov. 7
[4] Jaak Poldma (USC) def. Max Ta Ba Truong (UCLA) - 6-3, 6-2
DOUBLES
Round of 16 - Nov. 4
[4] Lucassen/Sarmiento (USC) def. Gottshall/Zapala (LMU) -- 8-5
[2] Poldma/Sundling (USC) def. Apelt/Hoefnagels (APU) -- 9-7
Quarterfinals - Nov. 5
Kawka/Urbina (BYU) def. [4] Lucassen/Sarmiento (USC) -- 8-6
[2] Poldma/Sundling (USC) def. Elliott/West (UCSD) -- 8-5
Semifinals - Nov. 6
[2] Poldma/Sundling (USC) def. Konigsfeldt/Recknagel (UCSB) -- 8-3
Championship - Nov. 7
[2] Poldma/Sundling (USC) def. [1] Clarke/Llompart (PEP) - 8-5
CONSOLATION SINGLES
Round of 16 - Nov. 5
JT Sundling (USC) def. Evan Teufel (UCLA) -- 6-0, 6-1
Quarterfinals - Nov. 6
JT Sundling (USC) def. Erik Elliott (UCSD) - 6-3, 6-3
Semifinals - Nov. 6
JT Sundling (USC) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) - 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6)
Championship - Nov. 7
Daniel Kosakowski (UCLA) def. JT Sundling (USC) - 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)
Players Mentioned
