No. 13 USC Men Host Top-10 Teams, Then Visit No. 1 Wake Forest

THIS WEEK

No. 13 USC has set up its Spring Break with heated competition as the Trojans take on three top-10 opponents this week. USC (10-3) starts off the busy stretch with a battle against No. 2 Ohio State at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (March 13) before tangling with No. 10 Texas at 2 p.m. on Wednesday (March 14) at Marks Stadium. Then, the Trojans take flight to Winston-Salem, N.C. to visit the site of this year's NCAA Championships with a clash against No. 1 Wake Forest at 1 p.m. ET.

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 March 6) have the Trojans standing at No. 13. In the latest individual rankings (released March 6), sophomore Brandon Holt remains the frontrunner for the Trojans, now ranked No. 12 in the nation in singles. Freshman Daniel Cukierman, meanwhile, has risen to No. 64. In doubles, USC's Brandon Holt and Riley Smith rank No. 26 in the nation, with teammates Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven popping into the rankings for the first time at No. 52 in the land.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

The No. 2 Buckeyes are 12-2 overall after a 4-0 loss to Georgia last week. Ohio State has four players nationally ranked in singles: #2 Mikael Torpegaard, #35 Kyle Seelig, #41 JJ Wolf and #65 John McNally. In doubles, Ohio State has #7 Joyce/Torpegaard in the rankings. In a series dating back to 1979, USC holds a 6-3 all-time record over Ohio State. The last time the teams met, USC beat the Buckeyes 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the 2015 ITA National Team Indoors in Chicago.

SCOUTING TEXAS

The No. 10 Longhorns are 11-2 overall after beating Pennsylvania and Rice each 7-0 last week. Texas has four players nationally ranked in singles: #46 Yuya Ito, #60 Harrison Scott, #70 Leonardo Telles and #95 John Mee. In doubles, Texas has#3 Banzer/Telles and #42 Ito/Scott in the rankings. In a series dating back to 1975, USC holds a 20-5 all-time record over Texas. The last time the teams met, USC beat the Longhorns 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in Athens, Ga., en route to USC's 2014 national championship.

SCOUTING WAKE FOREST

The No. 1 Demon Deacons enter the week with a 9-0 overall record, visiting Virginia Tech on Friday before USC arrives in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest has six players nationally ranked in singles: #8 Petros Chrysochos, #18 Borna Gojo, #34 Skander Mansouri, #98 Yuval Solomon, #102 Christian Seraphim and #121 Bar Botzer. In doubles, Wake Forest has#5 Chrysochos/Mansouri, #29 Seraphim/Zlobinsky and #72 Gojo/Mansouri. In a series dating back to 2010, USC holds a 1-2 all-time record over Wake Forest. Earlier this season, Wake Forest beat USC 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle.

LAST WEEK

USC kicked out to a winning start to Pac-12 play with a road sweep on a 4-0 win at Washington and a 4-3 victory at No. 40 Oregon last week. USC maneuvered ahead early in Seattle, punching up a pair of doubles wins to get into singles action, where the Trojans tacked up three quick straight-set wins to pocket the victory over the Huskies. In doubles play, newly ranked #52 Trojan pair Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven drummed up a 6-2 win on court two to get USC a leg up in the race. Coming through with the decider was USC's #26 Brandon Holy and Riley Smith with a 6-4 win on court four to lock up the 1-0 lead and suspend action on court three. The Trojan stand in singles was similarly powerful, with a run of straight-set victories to storm to the road win. On court six, Jake DeVine sprinted to a 7-5, 6-1 win to post the first singles win of the day in topping Alexis Alvarez. Next to hit the finish line was USC's Jack Jaede with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Piers Foley on court five. The clincher was claimed by USC's #12 Brandon Holt on court one with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over #86 Jake Douglas to wrap the day's action with USC's 4-0 decision. The remaining courts had Trojans on top down the line, as Daniel Cukierman, Laurens Verboven and Logan Smith were all leading when play was suspended. The next day in Eugene, USC never trailed, but had to dig deep to pull off this one, fighting off No. 40 host Oregon and claiming a tense road win on Jack Jaede's three-set comeback on court six to clinch a 4-3 win over the Ducks. USC looked to be in command in doubles play, picking up a speedy 6-1 win from #52 Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven on court two before #26 Brandon Holt and Riley Smith posted a 6-4 win on court one to pocket a 1-0 lead for the Trojans and bring on singles play. Ranked #12 in singles, Holt stayed in winning form in his No. 1 slot, delivering a 6-1, 6-2 win over Oregon's #13 Thomas Laurent to take the Trojans to a 2-0 lead. Oregon fired back, however. The Ducks would pull even as Akihiro Tanaka topped USC's Laurens Verboven 6-4, 6-4 on court three and Ty Gentry issued a forceful comeback win to beat USC's Logan Smith 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 on court five. That had the teams snarled at 2-2 before USC's #64 Daniel Cukierman got the Trojans back on top with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 win over Simon Stevens at the No. 2 spot. Again, Oregon had an answer, with Cormac Clissold equalizing on his 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory over USC's Riley Smith in the sophomore's singles debut this season. That left all eyes on court six, where Jack Jaede had to fend off match points to force a third set, where he'd close out the match with the clincher on a heroic 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 comeback over Oregon's Riki Oshima to make it 4-3 Trojans.

ITA INDOORS ACTION

In its 10th straight trip to the event, USC went 2-1 out at the 2018 ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle. The Trojans faced three top-10 opponents and knocked off two of them, topping No. 9 Oklahoma State in the first round to square off against No. 1 Wake Forest in the quarterfinals. The Demon Deacons would fend off the Trojans for a 4-2 decision that advanced the eventual champion to the semi. USC, meanwhile, would wrap its time in Seattle with a 4-1 upset of No. 4 Georgia. At the end of all the action, USC had doubles duo Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith named to the All-Tournament Team at the No. 3 doubles position. The pair won all three of their matches at the event to help anchor the Trojans.

BY THE NUMBERS

As dual match play heats up, six Trojans have hit double digits in the singles win column. Sophomore Brandon Holt leads the pack with 18 singles wins. Jake DeVine and Laurens Verboven have 13 wins each, with a trio of Trojans following close behind. Jack Jaede and Tanner Smith have 11 apiece, while Logan Smith holds 10. In the doubles realm, the hottest hands belong to Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven, who are off to a 18-4 start thanks in part to a perfect 7-0 record together during the month of January. Meanwhile, Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith have gathered in a 10-1 record together 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. this season.

PRESEASON PICKS

The first set of 2017-18 individual rankings came out during the fall as preseason rankings, which had five Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Brandon Holt was 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 was No. 54 junior Logan Smith, followed by No. 82 junior Jack Jaede, No. 96 senior Thibault Forget and No. 120 sophomore Riley Smith.

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

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven