No. 12 USC Men Set Up Defense Of Pac-12 Tourney Title In Ojai

THIS WEEK

USC men's tennis rolls out to Ojai for its annual pilgrimage to the Pac-12 Championship, locked in as the No. 3 seed for the second straight season and standing as the defending champion. The Trojans (15-7) open their defense of the conference crown with a 6 p.m. quarterfinal match against No. 36 Arizona State on Thursday (April 26) at Libbey Park. A win there would push USC back to the semifinals for the seventh consecutive year in the tournament's seven-year existence. The Trojans would play in the 4 p.m. semi on Friday (April 27) to fight for a place in the 3 p.m. championship match on Saturday (April 28). The semifinals and final will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Los Angeles, with Ted Robinson and Justin Gimelstob on the call.

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 24) have the Trojans standing at No. 12. In the latest individual rankings (released April 24), sophomore Brandon Holt remains the frontrunner for the Trojans, ranked No. 11 in the nation in singles. Freshman Daniel Cukierman, meanwhile, now sits at No. 82, with Logan Smith on the scene at No. 118. In doubles, USC's Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven have climbed to a career-best ranking in leapfrogging teammates Brandon Holt and Riley Smith in this week's national rankings. Jaede and Verboven now top out at No. 7 in the nation, and Holt and Smith stand at No. 9 in the land.

PAC-12 PLAN

For the seventh year, the Pac-12 is hosting a team men's tennis tournament in Ojai, Calif., to determine the automatic qualifier for the coming NCAA Men's Championships. Teams are seeded based on won-lost percentages during regular-season conference play. On Wednesday (April 25), a match between No. 8 seed Utah and No. 9 seed Arizona opens play at 12 p.m.. On Thursday (April 26), the winner of that first match will face top-seeded UCLA at 12 p.m., preceded by a 9 a.m. matchup between No. 5 seed Cal and No. 4 seed Oregon. No. 2 seed Stanford faces No. 7 seed Washington at 3 p.m., followed by No. 3 seeded USC's 6 p.m. clash with No. 6 seed Arizona State. Semifinals are set for 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday (April 27). All men's tournament matches will be played at Libbey Park, culminating with the team championship at 6 p.m. on Saturday (April 28). Pac-12 Networks will be televising the semifinals and final.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR

USC was the No. 3 seed in last year's Pac-12 Tournament and made a power move to take the conference crown in following up a 4-0 win over Utah with a 4-1 win over No. 2 seed Cal in the semis to arrange a rivalry rematch with top-seeded UCLA. The Trojans would win their third Pac-12 Tournament Championship in epic fashion in Ojai, getting one final break right when it mattered as freshman Brandon Holt emerged with a match-clinching three-set victory on court one to claim the conference crown for the Trojans over rival UCLA. USC had been ranked No. 7 in the nation and improved to 25-5 overall record with its third Pac-12 Tournament title in the books. The win secured the automatic berth into the 2017 NCAA Tournament to tally the Trojans 11th consecutive NCAA appearance.

LAST ACTION

USC issued a 4-0 decision over visiting No. 38 Utah in the Pac-12 regular-season finale at Marks Stadium last weekend. The Trojans snagged the doubles point with a win from Brandon Holt and Riley Smith on court one and later received a tiebreaker victory from Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven on court two. That kept both Trojan tandems perfect in Pac-12 doubles play, sitting at 7-0 apiece in conference competition. Next, USC rattled off three straight-set wins at the top of the ladder to secure the home win. It was Senior Day at USC, and the Trojans took time to honor their three graduating seniors — Thibault Forget, Henry Ji and Jens Sweaney — in between doubles and singles play. After USC's top guns Holt and Smith whipped up a speedy 6-0 victory on court one, the doubles point tightened up with close matches brewing on courts two and three. At the No. 3 spot, the Utes had Micevski/Sierra fend off USC's Tanner Smith and Mateusz Smolicki with a 6-4 decision that snarled up the doubles battle. On court two, USC had #11 Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven grind out the decider with a powerful push in a tiebreaker to beat Utah's Benkaim/Cory 7-6 (2) and tack up the 1-0 lead for the Trojans. In singles, it was doubles partners Jaede and Verboven who kept their winning touch the hottest, as Jaede peeled out to the first win on a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Utah's Egbert Weverink on court two to make it 2-0. At the No. 3 spot, Verboven hit the finish line next on a 6-1, 6-4 win over Santiago Sierra, and USC was up 3-0. That set the table for Brandon Holt on court one, as the sophomore sped to a 6-4, 6-1 clinching victory over David Micevski to lock down the 4-0 sweep for the Trojans..

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 21 singles wins. Laurens Verboven is next in line with 18, followd closely by Jake DeVine's 17. Following that trio is Jack Jaede, who has collected 14 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 and now hold a 25-6 mark that is due in part to a perfect 7-0 record together during the month of January and a current five-match win streak. 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 13-2 overall while riding a nine-match win streak.

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.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Daniel Cukierman

Jake DeVine

Thibault Forget

Brandon Holt

Jack Jaede

Henry Ji

Logan Smith

Riley Smith

Tanner Smith

Mateusz Smolicki

Jens Sweaney

Laurens Verboven