USC
UCLA
No. 1 USC Men Leap Past No. 3 UCLA
February 29, 2012 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 29, 2012
WESTWOOD, CALIF. - The top-ranked USC men's tennis team served up a solid 6-1 win over crosstown rival UCLA today, keeping the Trojans rolling right along through the 2012 season with another victory over a top-10 opponent. The No. 3 Bruins got to host this first rivalry battle of the year, but the Trojans made themselves at home in Westwood by hauling in the doubles point, then rattling off three straight-set singles wins to leap to victory. The win improves the streaking Trojans to 14-0 overall on the year, while USC bulks up its overall winning streak to 34 straight as it makes its run at defending three consecutive NCAA titles.
USC's top gun Steve Johnson sealed the deal on today's win over the Bruins, as the streaking senior claimed his 48th straight singles win with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over #33 Nick Meister on court one. That win followed two impressive efforts by his younger teammates. Freshman #38 Yannick Hanfmann continued to flex his singles muscle with a 6-4, 6-1 win at the No. 5 spot over Dennis Mkrtchian to kick off singles play. Soon after, sophomore #22 Ray Sarmiento cleaned up at the No. 2 position with a 6-4, 6-3 win over #81 Clay Thompson to set up Johnson to come through for the win.
With the win in-hand for the Trojans, there were still three more singles matches underway with third sets to get through. All three were dramatic. All three went to tiebreakers. The least tense of all of them turned out to be on court six, where Roberto Quiroz shut out Maxime Tabatruong to put USC ahead 5-0 in the match with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0) comeback win. Emilio Gomez would not be so fortunate in his tiebreaker vs. Adrien Puget, however. Puget managed to pull out a tight win for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) comeback of his own to register UCLA's first win of the day. Senior Daniel Nguyen put a stop to that trend, though. He managed to drill out once more comeback effort for a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory over Marcos Giron to wrap up a 6-1 win for the Trojans over their No. 3 rivals.
In the opening doubles play, matches were tight down the line. Teamed up on court three, freshmen Hanfmann and Eric Johnson got the job done in a battle with UCLA's Hardie/Thompson to tack up the first win of the day on a 9-7 victory. Court one' Nguyen/Sarmiento, meanwhile, had created some room against UCLA's Meister/Puget, and worked their way to the win and the first point of the day with an 8-5 decision. That left a war going at the No. 2 spot between USC's Gomez/Quiroz and UCLA's Brigham/Giron, but the Trojan cousins were able to pull through to complete the sweep on a 9-8 win over the Bruins for a winning lift.
#1 USC 6, #3 UCLA 1
Feb. 29, 2012 - Westwood, Calif.
DOUBLES
(1) Nguyen/Sarmiento (USC) def. Meister/Puget (UCLA) - 8-5
(2) Gomez/Quiroz (USC) def. Brigham/Giron (UCLA) - 9-8 (1)
(3) Hanfmann/E. Johnson (USC) def. Hardie/Thompson (UCLA) - 9-7
USC wins doubles point.
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
(1) #5 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #33 Nick Meister (UCLA) - 6-4, 6-2*
(2) #22 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. #81 Clay Thompson (UCLA) - 6-4, 6-3
(3) #15 Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. #116 Marcos Giron (UCLA) - 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6)
(4) #109 Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. #32 Emilio Gomez (USC) - 2-6, 6- 3, 7-6 (7)
(5) #38 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) - 6-4, 6-1
(6) #124 Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Maxime Tabatruong (UCLA) - 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0)
Order of finish: 5, 2, 1*, 6, 4, 3
Players Mentioned
