University Southern California Trojans
Friday, February 1
Los Angeles, CA
10:30 AM
USC
vs
UC Davis
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Photo by: Hali Helfgott
No. 5 USC Men Host Friday Doubleheader At Marks Stadium
January 30, 2019 | Men's Tennis, Features
Weather permitting, USC will face UC Davis at 10:30 a.m. and San Francisco at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
THIS WEEK
No. 5 USC remains on home turf this week, carrying its 3-0 record into a doubleheader day of action on Friday (Feb. 1). As long as the skies stay dry enough, the Trojans will first face UC Davis (6-0) at 10:30 a.m. before turning to face San Francisco at 1:30 p.m. at Marks Stadium.
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
For the 12th 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 nation to open the spring. The latest ITA team rankings (released Jan. 30) still have the Trojans locked in as the No. 5 team in the land. The latest individual rankings came out during the fall as preseason rankings, with six Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman leads the way at No. 8 in the nation in singles. Senior Laurens Verboven has his career best at No. 19, as do seniors Logan Smith at No. 32 and Tanner Smith at No. 34. Freshman Bradley Frye weighs in at No. 47, with redshirt junior Jake DeVine locked in at a career-high No. 56. In doubles, USC has Cukierman and Tanner Smith ranked at No. 45 in the land.
SCOUTING UC DAVIS
The Aggies are 6-0 overall after a 4-3 win over Nevada and a 5-2 win over Sonoma State last weekend. UC Davis has no players ranked nationally in singles and no ranked doubles teams. USC is 4-0 all-time against the Aggies in a series that dates back to 2014. Last year, USC beat UC Davis 6-1 in Los Angeles.
SCOUTING USF
The Dons are 1-0 overall after opening their 2019 season with a 6-1 win over Sonoma State. USF has no players ranked nationally in singles and no ranked doubles teams. USC is 12-3 all-time against the Dons in a series that dates back to 1947. USC beat USF 5-2 when the teams met last year.
HOLT SCOOPS UP PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
As USC jumps out to a 3-0 start to 2019, USC junior Brandon Holt has collected the first Pac-12 Player of the Week honors of the Trojans' spring campaign. It's Holt's second career selection for the award. Holt had a powerful run for the Trojans in last week's string of victories. The junior captain would get USC out on a winning note in collecting the first doubles win of the new year, winning on court one in USC's historic season-opening dual match against No. 25 South Carolina — played on the courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne. Holt's singles match would be suspended as the Trojans notched a 4-0 win over the Gamecocks. Then, back in Los Angeles, Holt swept through two singles and two doubles victories in USC's winning run at ITA Kick-Off Weekend. He and Riley Smith would continue their trend of snagging an opening doubles victory on court one, and then Holt also grabbed two singles victories on court one. In a 4-0 win over Cal Poly, Holt beat Josh Ortlip 6-4, 6-0 to get USC a 2-0 lead. The next day, Holt upended UC Santa Barbara's #6 Nicolas Moreno de Alboran 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 to carry USC along to a 6-1 victory over the Gauchos at Marks Stadium. Holt is now 5-2 overall in singles play this season, while he and Smith boast a 6-1 record together in doubles. .
LAST WEEK
As host of ITA Kick-Off Weekend competition for the 11th straight season, USC punched its 11th consecutive ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in following a 4-0 win over Cal Poly with a 6-1 win over UC Santa Barbara in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend capper at Marks Stadium. Against Cal Poly, the doubles point got tight when Cal Poly answered USC's opening 6-4 win on court one by Brandon Holt and Riley Smith with a Mustang victory on court three. Cal Poly's Bechard/Vardanyan upended USC's Daniel Cukierman and Bradley Frye 6-4 to put all eyes on court two. After being tied up 5-5, USC's Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven got a key late break, and then Jaede held serve for the Trojan cause to post a 7-5 win over Cal Poly's Meinert/Noel to net USC a 1-0 advantage and bring up singles action. In singles, USC made a power move with three straight-set wins to clean up the 4-0 sweep of the Mustangs. At the top spot, Brandon Holt came in hot with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Cal Poly's Josh Ortlip to make it a 2-0 USC advantage. Next, it was Holt's doubles partner Riley Smith at the No. 4 slot who hit the finish line, tacking up a smooth 6-3, 6-2 win over Alex Stater for a 3-0 lead. Coming in with the clincher USC's #8 Daniel Cukierman, who topped Dominic Bechard 6-1, 7-5 to end the day early on a 4-0 USC sweep that suspended the remaining three matches. Highlighting the Trojan victory over UCSB was newcomer Mor Bulis' first career victory as a Trojan, as the freshman whipped up a straight-set win from court four to help put USC in position for the victory over the visiting Gauchos. USC made short work of doubles play with two swift wins. At the top spot, USC's Brandon Holt and Riley Smith churned out a 6-1 victory over Holm/Moreno de Alboran just ahead of a 6-2 win from Trojans Daniel Cukierman and Bradley Frye on court three over Gauchos Guillin/Soto. That brought up singles play, where USC jumped ahead 3-0 only to see the Gauchos tangle things up soon after. Riley Smith stayed in winning form and recorded a 6-2, 6-2 victory on court four over Joseph Rotheram to make it 2-0, and then Bulis came through with his first Trojan victory on a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hironori Koyanagi at the No. 5 spot. Up 3-0, USC looked in position to make a winning move until UCSB interrupted the Trojans' flow with a win on court three. There, Gaucho Victor Krustev topped USC's #19 Laurens Verboven with a 6-2, 6-3 decision that put a point on the board for the hosts. Meanwhile, two matches would extend to third sets to keep the clincher at bay for a bit longer. Freshman Jake Sands would step in early, however. His 6-4, 6-4 win on court six sealed victory for the Trojans as Sands took down Anders Holm to make it 4-1 USC. The remaining three-setters would play out, and USC notched two more points with gutsy efforts versus ranked foes on the top two courts. On court one, USC's top gun Brandon Holt would stake a claim on a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 victory over UC Santa Barbara's dangerous #6 Nicolas Moreno de Alboran to tug USC ahead 5-1. A little later, USC's #8 Daniel Cukierman also rebounded from dropping the second set and fought off a 4-4 tie to beat UCSB's #22 Joseph Guillin 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on court two, wrapping the day's action as a 6-1 USC victory.
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES
In the first-ever collegiate dual match to be played at a Grand Slam, No. 5 USC showed resilience under a warm Australian sun on its official 2019 opener, gutting out a 4-0 victory over No. 25 South Carolina on the courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne. The Trojans snagged a quick doubles point and looked in position for a swift string of singles wins until the Gamecocks dug in and forced three sets on four courts. USC was able to net straight-set wins from freshman Jake Sands and sophomore Daniel Cukierman before things got tangled, and then Laurens Verboven came through with the clincher to wrap USC's memorable visit to Melbourne and get USC a 1-0 start to the 2019 campaign. The doubles point was a quick fix for the Trojans, who rattled off two swift victories to pocket a 1-0 lead. At the No. 1 spot, Brandon Holt and Riley Smith peeled out to a 6-1 win, putting Daniel Cukierman and Bradley Frye in position to snag the opening point. The sophomore-freshman duo locked in with a 6-2 victory on court three, and the Trojans were off to singles play with the 1-0 advantage in their court. In singles, USC claimed first sets down the line, but the Gamecocks fired back on four courts. At the No. 6 spot, however, USC freshman Jake Sands held firm and scored USC's first singles win of the day on a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Jake Beasley to make it 2-0 Trojans. Next, USC's #8 Daniel Cukierman sidestepped a third and closed out a 6-2, 7-5 win over South Carolina's Yancy Davis on court two, and USC was up 3-0 with four courts tangled up in third sets. On court one, Brandon Holt rebounded from dropping the first set in a tiebreaker against #7 Paul Jubb, and the top guns would continue to battle in the third while the finish line neared on other courts. Jack Jaede and Riley Smith were both in tight third sets on courts four and five, respectively, while #19 Laurens Verboven also was in lockstep with South Carolina's Daniel Rodrigues on court three. Finally, Verboven found the finishing touch, getting one last break to clinch the match on his 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win. That suspended the remaining matches, and sends USC home to Los Angeles with a key win to build momentum in the early goings of the 2019 season.
FALL SUCCESS
Several Trojans had impactful falls, with Daniel Cukierman winning the SoCal Intercollegiate title and reaching the Oracle ITA Fall Singles Final, Logan Smith winning the ITA Southwest Regional title, Laurens Verboven claiming the ITA Oracle Masters championship, and Tanner Smith reaching the ITA Southwest Regional final. In November, Jack Jaede would scoop up the Jack Kramer Collegiate singles title with a championship match win over teammate Jake DeVine. DeVine and Bradley Frye also had strong showings at the ITA All-American qualifying rounds.
LAST SEASON
USC went 20-9 overall last year with a run to the NCAA Quarterfinals, finishing the 2018 season ranked No. 11 in the nation. For the first time since 1993, USC men's tennis landed multiple Trojan doubles pairs on the ITA All-America honor roll. It also was 25 years ago that USC last finished a season with more than three ITA All-Americans, as the Trojans boasted four honorees for 2018 in Brandon Holt, Riley Smith, Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven. All but Holt were first-time All-Americans, with Holt adding 2018 singles and doubles All-American honors to his 2017 singles pick from his freshman campaign. Holt and Smith finished 2018 ranked as the No. 9 doubles team in the nation to secure their doubles All-American status, while Jaede and Verboven snagged their first All-American honors as a 5-8 seed in the NCAA Doubles draw as well as a No. 10 final ranking. A three-time All-American, Brandon Holt secured his second singles selection as a 9-16 seed in his second appearance in the NCAA Singles draw. Holt also powered through to the NCAA Round of 16 in singles and in doubles with Smith.
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