No. 5 USC Men Pack Up For Palo Alto To Visit No. 10 Stanford

THIS WEEK
No. 5 USC hits the road this week for a nonconference clash against No. 10 Stanford. The Trojans (3-0) take on the Cardinal (3-0) in Palo Alto at 3 p.m. this Friday (Feb. 2). The match will be live streamed at http://streamingtennis.com/Cardinal/

ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
For the 11th straight season, the USC men's tennis team kicked off the new year ranked in the nation's top-10 of the Oracle/ITA rankings, ranked No. 5 in the land to start the spring season. The latest ITA team rankings (released Jan. 31) have the Trojans still standing at No. 5. 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 STANFORD
The Cardinal is 3-0 after beating Oregon 4-0 and Tulane 4-1 in ITA Kick-Off Weekend play last week. Stanford has #101 Tom Fawcett ranked nationally in singles and no ranked doubles teams. USC is 114-78 all-time against the Cardinal after split last season. USC beat Stanford 4-3 in their nonconference match in Los Angeles and lost 4-1 to the Cardinal in the Pac-12 clash in Palo Alto last year.

WINNING ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND
USC punched a 10th straight ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships after following a 6-1 win over Indiana with a 6-1 win over visiting UC Santa Barbara in ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship match at Marks Stadium last weekend. For the second straight match, USC freshman Daniel Cukierman came through with the singles clincher to secure victory for his Trojan team. In Friday's opening match vs. Indiana, USC raced into the lead in its matchup against Indiana, tacking up 6-1 victories on courts two and three in doubles to pin up that 1-0 advantage. Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith locked up their 6-1 decision first, beating Indiana's Brodney/Lam on court three. At the No. 2 spot, USC's Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven matched that score, topping Crane/Salgado 6-1 to get USC into the lead and suspend action on court one. That's where USC's #6 tandem of Brandon Holt and Riley Smith were up 4-1 on Manji/Tabrizi before that USC point went on the board and the teams turned to singles action. Stepping into the lineup for singles, Jake DeVine whipped up a 2-0 lead for the Trojans with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Zac Brodney on court six. Soon after, #6 Brandon Holt mirrored that score, beating #125 Raheel Manji 6-4, 6-3 at the top spot to net a 3-0 USC advantage. Before USC could come through with a sweep, Indiana's Brandon Lam upended USC's #82 Jack Jaede on court five with a three-set comeback. The 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 Hoosier win made it 3-1 Trojans with three-setters going on all remaining courts. It would be USC newcomer Daniel Cukierman who secured the Trojan victory with his 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 clincher on court two over Indiana's Antonio Cembellin. Up 4-1 with the championship matchup in place for tomorrow, this match played on. USC's Laurens Verboven tugged the Trojans to a 5-1 lead with his 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Bennett Crane on court four, and then USC's #54 Logan Smith closed things down for the day with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 comeback win over Keivon Tabrizi on court three. In the championship matchup against the Gauchos, USC first made a power move to a 1-0 lead with doubles wins on courts one and two. Top guns Brandon Holt and Riley Smith recorded their first win of the new season with a 6-3 decision over UC Santa Barbara's Holm/Moreno de Alboran. Soon after, Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven continued their winning ways, claiming an eighth straight victory while taking the Trojans to a 1-0 lead with a 6-4 victory on court two over Gauchos Freund/Rotheram. In singles play, USC's Logan Smith sprinted to a 6-1, 6-4 win on court three over Anders Holm to give USC a lift to a 2-0 lead. As matches tightened up on other courts, Thibault Forget worked up a 3-0 advantage for the Trojans with his 6-2, 6-4 finish over UCSB's Hironori Koyanagi on court six. The Gauchos would fire back with a win on court five, however, ensuring that the match would rage on as Victor Krustev managed a 6-3, 7-5 (3) win over Jake DeVine at the No. 5 spot. That left three-setters going on the remaining courts. On court two, however, USC freshman Daniel Cukierman would recover from a first-set slip to roar to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 comeback that clinched the match for USC with his victory over Simon Freund on court two. So, too, would Laurens Verboven finish off a comeback effort on court five, as just moments later he claimed a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Joseph Huillin on court four to make it 5-1 Trojans. The match on court one would play on, and USC's Brandon Holt would shrug off a second set tiebreaker loss to wrap the day's action with a 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 win over UCSB's Nicolas Moreno de Alboran that made it a 6-1 final in USC's favor.

BY THE NUMBERS
As dual match play gets underway, three Trojans have hit double digits in the singles win column. Sophomore Brandon Holt leads the pack with 13 singles wins, boasting a 3-0 record in dual-match action at the No. 1 spot. Jake DeVine and Laurens Verboven have 10 wins apiece in singles action. Meanwhile, matching Holt with a perfect 3-0 start to dual-match play are junior Logan Smith and freshman Daniel Cukierman. In the doubles realm, the hottest hands belong to Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven, who are off to a 10-1 start while riding an eight-match win streak. They're also 3-0 in dual-match doubles action to date.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Nick Crystal

Daniel Cukierman

Jake DeVine

Thibault Forget

Brandon Holt

Jack Jaede

Logan Smith

Riley Smith

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven