No. 5 USC Men Host ITA Kick-Off Weekend At Marks Stadium

THIS WEEK
No. 5 USC stays home this weekend, tagged as one of 16 hosts for ITA Kick-Off Weekend for the 10th consecutive year. The Trojans have won the event every year since it began in 2009, securing a trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships each time. This year, USC hosts Indiana, SMU and UC Santa Barbara for action running Friday and Saturday (Jan. 26-27) at Marks Stadium. On Friday, SMU (1-2) and UC Santa Barbara (0-0) square off at 10 a.m., followed by a 2 p.m. tilt between the Trojans (1-0) and Indiana (2-1). On Saturday, Friday's losing teams play a consolation match at 10 a.m. The championship match, featuring Friday's winners, is set for 2 p.m.

ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
For the 11th straight season, the USC men's tennis team has kicked off the new year ranked in the nation's top-10 of the Oracle/ITA rankings. The latest ITA team rankings (released Jan. 24) have the Trojans locked in as the No. 5 team in the land. The latest individual rankings came out during the fall as preseason rankings, with has five Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Brandon Holt remains the frontrunner for the Trojans, ranked No. 11 in the nation in singles and No. 6 in doubles with trusty sophomore teammate Riley Smith. Next in line in singles is No. 54 junior Logan Smith, followed by No. 82 junior Jack Jaede, No. 96 senior Thibault Forget and No. 120 sophomore Riley Smith.

SCOUTING INDIANA
The Hoosiers are 2-1 overall after opening their 2018 season with a 6-1 win over Ball State, a 7-0 win over Eastern Illinois and a 5-2 loss to Memphis last week. Indiana has #125 Raheel Manji ranked nationally in singles and no ranked doubles teams. USC is 1-0 all-time against the Hoosiers after a 7-0 win in when the teams first met in the 2011 ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship in Los Angeles.

SCOUTING UCSB
The Gauchos open their 2018 season with Friday's match against SMU. UC Santa Barbara has no players nationally ranked in singles or doubles. USC is 30-1 all-time against the Gauchos in a series that dates back to 1929. USC beat UCSB 7-0 when the teams last met in 2014 in Los Angeles.

SCOUTING SMU
The Mustangs are 1-4 overall after a 4-3 loss to Harvard and a 4-0 loss to Texas last week. SMU has no players nationally ranked in singles or doubles. USC is 9-8 all-time against the Mustgangs in a series that dates back to 1973. USC beat SMU 4-1 when the teams last met in the 2005 NCAA First Round in Seattle.

LAST WEEK
USC pinned up a solid win in its team action of the year, holding court on home turf for a 6-1 victory over visiting UC Davis. Two Trojan newcomers made their dual-match debuts, with Mateusz Smolicki registering a doubles win and Daniel Cukierman locking in a singles victory to help USC to a winning start to 2018. USC roared to a 1-0 lead with victories on courts three and one in doubles, suspending action on court two. Brandon Holt and newcomer Mateusz Smolicki snagged the first win of 2018 with a 6-1 decision at the No. 3 spot over UC Davis' Star/Swanson. Coming in with the clincher on court one was Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven with a 6-3 win over Goulak/Lam. That brought up singles action, where another USC newcomer — freshman Daniel Cukierman — sped to snag the first set of the day from his spot on court two. He'd go on to gather the Trojans' second singles win, making it 3-0 USC on his 6-0, 6-2 victory over Ivan Thamma. Cukierman's first collegiate singles win came after USC's top gun, sophomore Brandon Holt, tacked up the first singles victory of the day with a 6-2, 6-1 decision over David Goulak. Coming through with the clincher for USC was Logan Smith on court three. Smith whipped up a 6-4, 6-2 win over Aggie Everett Maltby to secure USC's first win of the year. That left three matches still going strong, with third sets looming on courts four and five. UC Davis would get a point on the board as Jonathan Star fended off USC's Laurens Verboven in pulling out a win in the 10-point tiebreaker to decide things on court four. The 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8) decision made it 4-1, but USC would close out the match with two more wins. On court five, Jake DeVine got out ahead in his 10-point breaker and later pulled out of an 8-8 lockup to tally a final 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) victory over Chethan Swanson to make it 5-1 Trojans. The last match on was #96 Thibault Forget on court six. The senior captain held his ground and wrapped up the match as a 6-1 USC victory on his 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Mitchell Iwahiro..

SHERWOOD CHAMPS
In the opening individual action of the new year, the USC men's tennis team stretched its muscles at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup and found success on the doubles courts. In competition featuring players from UCLA, Stanford and Baylor, it was the Trojan doubles duo of Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven that emerged victorious, sweeping through to the double title today out at the Sherwood Country Club. One of two USC doubles duos in the mix for this one, the No. 3 seeded pairing of Jaede and Verboven proved a force to reckon with, surrendering no more than three games in each contest across the three-day event. The closest affair was the title match, where Jaede/Verboven took down top-seeded Genender/Kumar of Stanford with a 6-3 decision after having topped UCLA's No. 2 seeded Rapp/Smith decisively, 6-2, in the morning's semifinals.

LAST SEASON
The 2017 Trojans — under the direction of head coach Peter Smith for the 15th season — locked up the Pac-12 Tournament Championship and went on to reach the NCAA Round of 16. Along the way, Smith gathered in his 600th career win as a head coach. Freshman Brandon Holt emerged as an ITA All-American in singles after going 35-9 overall and wrapping the year ranked No. 17 in the nation. Also named the ITA Southwest Region's Rookie of the Year and Player to Watch sophomore Logan Smith (23-18 overall) ended up No. 94 in the nation, while senior Nick Crystal (16-14 overall) completed his USC career ranked No. 107. Crystal also paired with USC sophomore Laurens Verboven at No. 73 in the land with a 24-7 overall record. Holt and Riley Smith finished their first season together as Trojans ranked No. 11 in the nation - just a spot short of All-American honors. As a team, USC finished the 2016-17 season ranked No. 6 in the nation after posting a 27-6 overall record with a run to the NCAA Round of 16 in Athens, Ga.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nick Crystal

Daniel Cukierman

Jake DeVine

Thibault Forget

Brandon Holt

Jack Jaede

Logan Smith

Riley Smith

Mateusz Smolicki

Laurens Verboven