Women of Troy Hit the Road For Three Important Matches

THIS WEEK
The USC women's tennis team hits the road for three-straight matches. The Women of Troy will take on Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif. on Tuesday (April 3), then travel to Colorado on Friday (April 6) and play at Utah on Sunday (April 8).

ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
After splitting conference matches last week by defeating Washington and falling to Washington State, USC moved down one spot in the Oracle/ITA National rankings to the No. 40 spot.

Senior Gabby Smith is USC's highest nationally ranked single player securing the No. 35 position. Smith is 19-12 on the season with five wins against singles opponents in the Top 16.

Junior Rianna Valdes broke into the national rankings this week at No. 92. This is the first time this season that Valdes has been nationally ranked. Valdes is 11-5 on the season.

In doubles, the Trojan tandem of Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes hold the No. 32 position. The duo is 9-5 throughout the course of the season.

SCOUTING PEPPERDINE
The Pepperdine Waves are the No. 8 team in the nation according to the Oracle/ITA National Rankings. The Waves boast an impressive five singles players who are nationally ranked: No. 12 Mayar Sherif Ahmed, No. 17 Ashley Lahey, No. 25 Luisa Stefani, No. 72 Evgeniya Levashova and No. 115 Laura Gulbe. They also have three doubles pairs nationally ranked: No. 17 Stefani/Ahmed, No. 33 Ahmed/Lahey and No. 75 Milovanovic/Levashova. Pepperdine is 13-1 overall, and 3-0 in conference play. Most recently, Pepperdine beat both Saint Mary's and Pacific 7-0 at home on March 29 and 30, respectively. USC is 43-15 all-time against the Waves in their series, which dates back to 1977.

SCOUTING COLORADO
The Colorado Buffalo do not have any nationally ranked singles or doubles players on their roster. They are 8-7 overall on the season and 1-4 in conference play. Most recently they lost on the road to Washington 4-0 on March 30 and Washington State 4-0 on Aprill 1. The Trojans are 10-0 all time against the Buffs since their series began in 1979.

SCOUTING UTAH
Similarly to Colorado, Utah does not boast any nationally ranked singles or doubles players. The Utes are 9-9 overall on the season and 1-5 in Pac-12 Conference play. Utah lost on the road to Washington State 4-0 on March 30 and Washington 4-0 on Aprill 1. USC holds an 8-0 all-time record against Utah since beginning their series in 1990.

LIVE STATS
Follow along on Twitter and Instagram (@USCWomensTennis) for live in-match updates.

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Players Mentioned

Angela Kulikov

Gabby Smith

Rianna Valdes