Verboven In Title Contention; Holt Slated For Semis

It was a winning day for USC's veterans in individual action up and down the California coast today. In Malibu at the Oracle ITA Masters, senior Laurens Verboven was victorious in three sets to score a spot in tomorrow's championship match. He'll be looking to follow the path of teammate Brandon Holt, who won the singles crown at last year's event. Holt happens to have had a great day of his own, competing in San Francisco at the Battle in the Bay. With wins today, Holt will move into tomorrow's singles semifinals while also having a doubles semi on the docket with partner Tanner Smith.

The Oracle ITA Masters singles championship match between Verboven and UC Santa Barbara's No. 32 Nicolas Moreno de Alboran is slated to be streamed live on ESPN3 at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Both the men's and women's championship matches will be aired later on ESPNU at 2 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 24) and Tuesday (Sept. 25).

To get to his place in the final, Verboven — seeded No. 6 and ranked No. 81 in the nation — had to get through Virginia Tech's No. 12-ranked Mitch Harper in this afternoon's semifinals in Malibu. Verboven was up to the challenge, winning a tight first set before shrugging off a loss in the second to go on and post a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 victory that punched his ticket to tomorrow's title match.

It was a busy day for the Trojans on day two of the Battle in the Bay, with four players in action today. Leading the pack was No. 4 Brandon Holt who logged back-to-back straight set singles wins while also pairing up with Tanner Smith for two doubles victories. The perfect day puts Holt in tomorrow's singles semifinals as well as the doubles semi with Smith. USC also had two Trojan freshmen in today's singles Round of 16, but both Bradley Frye and Jack Sands were upended by highly ranked opponents to bring their Battle in the Bay runs to a close.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, redshirt junior Jake DeVine took a quarterfinal loss in the singles draw at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic to wrap his visit out east.

All USC results and schedule at the three events are listed below.

ORACLE ITA MASTERS (Malibu, Calif.)

SINGLES
Round of 32 - Sept. 20
[6] #81 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. Hedrik Inno (Belmont) - 6-2, 6-3
[2] #31 Daniel Cukierman (USC) def. Alvaro Verdu (Marquette) - 6-1, 6-1

Round of 16 - Sept. 21
[6] #81 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. #56 Guanarteme Nuez (UT Arlington) - 6-3, 6-2
[2] #31 Daniel Cukierman (USC) def. #45 Stefan Milicevic (Minnesota) - 6-1, 6-4

Quarterfinals - Sept. 21
[6] #81 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. Matt Kuhar (BRY) - 6-3, 6-3
[7] #32 Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (UCSB) def. [2] #31 Daniel Cukierman (USC) - 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Semifinals - Sept. 22
[6] #81 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. [8] #12 Mitch Harper (VaTech) - 7-5, 1-6, 6-2

Championship - Sept. 23
[6] #81 Laurens Verboven (USC) vs. [7] #32 Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (UCSB) - 1:30 p.m. WATCH LIVE

MIXED DOUBLES
Round of 32 - Sept. 20
[3] Daniel Cukierman (USC) / Salma Ewing (USC) def. Evans (UIW)/Golanova (Illinois State) - 6-4
[2] Laurens Verboven (USC) / Bolton (UCLA) def. Efrim/Szentes (Alabama State) - 6-4

Round of 16 - Sept. 20
Sigsgaard (TEX)/Oosterhout (HAR) def. [3] Daniel Cukierman (USC) / Salma Ewing (USC) - 6-4
Oetzbach/Levashova (PEP) def. [2] Laurens Verboven (USC) / Elysia Bolton (UCLA) - 6-4

BATTLE IN THE BAY (San Francisco, Calif.)

SINGLES
First Round - Sept. 21
Tanner Smith (USC) - bye
Jake Sands (USC) - bye
Bradley Frye (USC) - bye
[2] #4 Brandon Holt (USC) - bye

Round of 32 - Sept. 21
#38 Emil Reinberg (UGA) def. Tanner Smith (USC) - 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4)
Jake Sands (USC) def. Morgan Dill (WFU) - 6-3, 6-2
Bradley Frye (USC) def. #91 Bar Botzer (WFU) - 6-3, 6-3
[2] #4 Brandon Holt (USC) def. Cagatay Soke (FREST) - 6-1, 6-3

Round of 16 - Sept. 22
[4] #22 Jan Zielinski (UGA) def. Jake Sands (USC) - 6-3, 7-5
[3] #10 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Bradley Frye (USC) - 7-5, 6-1
[2] #4 Brandon Holt (USC) def. Timothy Sah (STAN) - 6-1, 6-3

Quarterfinals - Sept. 22
[2] #4 Brandon Holt (USC) def. #64 Parker Wynn (TT) - 6-2, 7-6

Semifinals - Sept. 23
[2] #4 Brandon Holt (USC) vs. [3] #10 Alex Rybakov (TCU)

CONSOLATION SINGLES
Round of 16 - Sept. 22
Tanner Smith (USC) def. Blaz Seric (UH) - 7-6 (4), 7-5

DOUBLES
Round of 32 - Sept. 21
Bradley Frye / Jake Sands (USC) def. Draper/Molloy (CAL) - 8-5
[2] Brandon Holt / Tanner Smith (USC) - bye

Round of 16 - Sept. 22
Markes/Scott (TEX) def. Bradley Frye / Jake Sands (USC) - 8-6
[2] Brandon Holt / Tanner Smith (USC) def. Ilagan/Seric (UH) - 8-5

Quarterfinals - Sept. 22
[2] Brandon Holt / Tanner Smith (USC) def. Dill/Gadjiev (WFU) - 8-5

Semifinals - Sept. 23
[2] Brandon Holt / Tanner Smith (USC) vs. Loeb/Zielinski (WFU)

MILWAUKEE TENNIS CLASSIC (Milwaukee, Wisc.)

SINGLES
First Round - Sept. 20
[1] #81 Logan Smith (USC) - bye
[10] Jake DeVine (USC) def. Jesse Sprinkle (Minnesota) - 6-2, 6-3

Round of 32 - Sept. 21
[1] #81 Logan Smith (USC) def. Gui Gomes (Illinois) - 6-3, 6-4
[10] Jake DeVine (USC) def. Robert Krill (Wisconsin) - 6-3, 6-4

Round of 16 - Sept. 21
Patrick Kaukovalta (Alabama) def. [1] #81 Logan Smith (USC) - 6-2, 7-5
[10] Jake DeVine (USC) def. Edson Ortiz (Alabama) - 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2)

Quarterfinals - Sept. 22
Henrik Korsgaard (VaTech) def. [10] Jake DeVine (USC) - 6-4, 6-2

DOUBLES
Round of 32 - Sept. 21
[1] Jake DeVine / Logan Smith (USC) - bye

Round of 16 - Sept. 22
Barretto/Kaya (Cal) def. [1] Jake DeVine / Logan Smith (USC) - 6-2

Players Mentioned

Daniel Cukierman

Jake DeVine

Bradley Frye

Brandon Holt

Jake Sands

Logan Smith

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven