No. 16 USC Men Engage In Action At Arizona And No. 33 ASU

THIS WEEK

USC men's tennis has a road trip ahead with more Pac-12 play on the agenda for the No. 16 Trojans. USC (12-7, 3-2 Pac-12) is first due to visit Arizona (15-11, 1-4) for a 2:30 p.m. conference clash on Friday (April 13) in Tucson. Then, the Trojans will roll over to Tempe to square off against No. 33 Arizona State (13-7, 2-2) at 1 p.m. on Sunday (April 15).

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 April 10) have the Trojans standing at No. 16. In the latest individual rankings (released April 10), sophomore Brandon Holt remains the frontrunner for the Trojans, ranked No. 13 in the nation in singles. Freshman Daniel Cukierman, meanwhile, now sits at No. 84, with Logan Smith on the scene at No. 109. In doubles, USC's Brandon Holt and Riley Smith rank No. 10 in the nation, with teammates Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven having risen to No. 12 in the land.

SCOUTING ARIZONA

The Wildcats are 15-11 overall and 1-4 in Pac-12 play after falling to Washington 4-3 and to Oregon 4-0 last week. Arizona has no players nationally ranked in singles or doubles. In a series dating back to 1934, USC holds a 100-2 all-time record over Arizona. In the last meeting, USC beat Arizona 4-0 in Los Angeles in last year's Pac-12 match.

SCOUTING ASU

The No. 33 Sun Devils enter the week 13-7 overall and 2-2 in Pac-12 play after beating Oregon 4-1 and Washington 4-3 last week. ASU has two players nationally ranked in singles: #27 Michael Geertz and #72 Benjamin Hannestad. ASU has no ranked doubles teams. In a series dating back to 1953, USC holds a 53-9 all-time record over ASU. The teams haven't met, however, since a 4-3 USC win in Tempe back in 2008 before the Sun Devil program closed down. This is the first season back to competition for the ASU men since 2008.

LAST ACTION

USC had an epic battle with crosstown rival UCLA last week, going toe-to-toe with the No. 2 Bruins before the visitors managed a late winning move to snag a 4-3 victory over the Trojans at Marks Stadium. The Trojans snagged a tense doubles point and held a 2-1 lead early in singles action, but the Bruins answered back and eventually got the clincher in a three-setter on court five. Doubles was drama-packed as it all came down to a tiebreaker on court one. USC's #24 Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven drilled out a 6-2 win on court two over UCLA's #11 A. Rapp/Smith. The Bruins countered from court three, firing back with a 6-3 decision to tangle things up on Cressy/Pereira's victory over USC's Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith. That left all the action raging on court one, where USC's #9 Brandon Holt and Riley Smith battled back from a 1-4 deficit on the way to a tiebreaker to decide the doubles point. In the breaker, UCLA's #36 Redlicki/Zhu got up 5-2 only to see the Trojans rattle off the next five points to press on to victory and notch a 1-0 lead for USC on their 7-6 (5) win at the No. 1 spot. UCLA would level things with a straight-set singles win on court three, as #46 Keegan Smith topped USC's Jack Jaede with a 6-3, 6-2 decision. Matches were tightening up on all over courts, except that of Laurens Verboven, who hammered out a 6-3, 6-0 win over UCLA's #69 Logan Staggs to lift the Trojans back ahead, up 2-1. The Bruins would answer back again, however, with #84 Evan Zhu getting a late surge against USC's #75 Daniel Cukierman for a 6-2, 7-5 win on court two to make it 2-2. At the top spot, USC's #13 Brandon Holt was pressing the issue against UCLA's #1 Martin Redlicki, looking to force a third set with a tense tiebreaker. In an extended breaker, Redlicki got the last word with a power move to take the match 6-3, 7-6 (8) and get UCLA a 3-2 advantage. That left two three-setters in action at the bottom of the lineup. USC's Riley Smith had gutted out a second-set tiebreaker against Maxime Cressy to pull his court five match into a third, while Thibault Forget was in a good position in his court six battle against UCLA's Connor Hance. He'd press on to tie the match up once again, netting a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Hance to lock it up at 3-3 and put all eyes on court five. After a 2-2 lockup in the third, Cressy was able to hold and pull off a break of Smith, then made a winning move to clinch the match for the Bruins on a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 win that got the 4-3 win for the visitors. .

BY THE NUMBERS

As dual match play rolls along, eight Trojans have hit double digits in the singles win column. Sophomore Brandon Holt leads the pack with 19 singles wins. Laurens Verboven is next in line with 16, just ahead of Jake DeVine's 15. Following that trio is Jack Jaede, who has collected 13 wins, and Tanner Smith with 11, while Logan Smith, Daniel Cukierman and Thibault Forget each grip 10 apiece. In the doubles realm, the hottest hands belong to Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven, who have cracked the 20-win barrier with a 22-6 mark that is due in part to a perfect 7-0 record together during the month of January. Meanwhile, Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith have gathered in a 12-3 record together to date, and top guns Brandon Holt and Riley Smith are now 10-2 overall.

TOP COMPETITION

USC may be carrying seven overall losses, but each of those came in matches against highly ranked opponents. All seven losses have come to top-10 teams, while the Trojans have taken out three top-10 opponents, including a top-five win over then-No. 4 Georgia.

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.

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 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. Jaede and Verboven have continued to impress as USC's winningest doubles duo, gripping a 21-6 overall record and an 11-5 mark together in dual-match play.

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

Daniel Cukierman

Jake DeVine

Thibault Forget

Brandon Holt

Jack Jaede

Logan Smith

Riley Smith

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven