No. 24 USC Men Battle The Bruins Friday At Marks Stadium

THIS WEEK

No. 24 USC is back on home turf ready to dig in for a crosstown showdown this week. The Trojans have No. 14 UCLA coming to Mark Stadium for a 3 p.m. faceoff on Friday (Feb. 22).

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 Feb. 20) have the Trojans now at No. 24 in the nation. The latest individual rankings also were released Feb. 20, with seven Trojans still ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman leads the way at No. 11 in the nation in singles. Junior Brandon Holt has popped up at No. 21, with senior Laurens Verboven now weighing in at No. 23. They're followed by fellow seniors Logan Smith at No. 45 and Tanner Smith at No. 55, while freshman Bradley Frye stands at No. 81 and redshirt junior Jake DeVine clocks in at No. 123. In doubles, USC has Holt and Riley Smith now ranked at No. 21 in the land.

SCOUTING UCLA

The No. 14 Bruins are 4-3 overall after going 1-2 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, beating Notre Dame 4-1 before falling to Wake Forest 4-3 and to TCU 4-0 in Chicago last week. UCLA has two players ranked nationally in singles: #53 Govind Nanda and #86 Keegan Smith. In doubles, UCLA has #30 Cressy/Smith in the rankings. USC is 95-113 all-time against the Bruins in a series that dates back to 1929. Last year, USC fell 4-2 at UCLA and 4-3 at Mark Stadium during the regular season. UCLA also beat USC 4-1 in the Pac-12 Tournament championship, and won 4-3 in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

LAST ACTION

USC went 1-2 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago last week. The Trojans topped No. 4 Florida 4-3 before taking a 4-1 loss to No. 6 Texas in the Quarterfinals. That put USC up against No. 13 Virginia in a consolation match to end the trip, with the Cavaliers claiming a 4-0 win over the Trojans. USC pulled out an impressive 4-3 win over No. 4 Florida to open up the event, with Brandon Holt coming through in the clutch with a third-set tiebreaker to lift the Trojans to victory. USC pulled out a tight doubles point and got a quick straight-set win from Laurens Verboven in singles before the rest of the matches stretched to three-setters. Florida claimed three singles wins to move ahead 3-2, but USC saw Daniel Cukierman strike back to set up Holt's nail-biting clincher. Doubles play saw USC's top guns Brandon Holt and Riley Smith sprint to a 6-1 win that got the Trojans an important early lift. Their win on court one over Kessler/Vale would be followed by an answering shot from the Gators on court two, where Ingildsen/Perez topped Trojans Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven 6-4. That brought it down to court three, where USC's #21 Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith proved up to the challenge. The Trojan pair took out Florida's Crawford/Riffice 6-4 to pocket the opening point for USC. In singles, USC snagged the first sets on four courts to turn up the pressure on the Gators. On court five, USC freshman Mor Bulis turned the tables quickly on his Florida foe, answering a first-set loss with a 6-0 sweep in the second to force a third set. Meanwhile, senior #31 Laurens Verboven was edging his way toward the finish line on court three. He'd close out a 6-4, 6-3 win over Florida's #27 Andy Andrade to tug the Trojans to a 2-0 lead. Florida would get on the board when Bulis' bid to push to a three-set win fell short on court five. Florida's Alfredo Perez shrugged off that 0-6 loss in the second set and managed a 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 win over Bulis to make it 2-1. Florida would make a move into the lead with wins on courts six and four next. McClain Kessler notched a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over USC freshman Jake Sands on court six to level it at 2-2, and then #46 Johannes Ingildsen pushed past Riley Smith for a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win that got Florida up 3-2. At the No. 2 spot, USC's #4 Daniel Cukierman got it even again with a crucial 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over #67 Sam Riffice to put the decider on court one. There, USC's #56 Brandon Holt was in a heated third set with #20 Oliver Crawford, stretching into a tiebreaker to decide the clincher. Holt was undeterred by Crawford's quick jump to a 2-0 advantage in the breaker, reeling off five straight points to power into the lead and then close out the clincher with a final 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) comeback that locked up a 4-3 win for the Trojans. In the quarterfinals vs. Texas, USC's bright spot today came early on, as Holt/Smith drummed up a swift 6-2 upset of Texas' #13 Scott/Sigsgaard on court one in doubles. The Longhorns answered back, however, in pulling off 7-5 decisions on courts two and three to pocket a 1-0 lead and bring up singles. Texas' momentum carried on into singles play, where Harrison Scott got it to 2-0 Texas with a 6-1, 6-1 win over USC's #31 Verboven on court four. Next, it was Longhorn Colin Markes who topped USC's Riley Smith with a 6-3, 6-4 win to put USC in a 3-0 hole. Texas was looking tough in the remaining matches, although Holt and Bulis would each force their respective matches into third sets. Before they'd get a chance to push on, though, Texas' #14 Yuya Ito handed a rare defeat to USC's #4 Cukierman on court two The 6-2, 7-5 decision would serve as the clincher, giving the Longhorns the 4-0 sweep. Against Virginia, doubles play saw the Trojans come up empty, as Jaede/Verboven were upended on court two 6-3 by Virginia's Nakashima/Wiersholm. Next, USC's Holt/Smith were edged out by Soderlund/Woodall, and the Cavaliers had a 1-0 lead on the board. USC would respond with a point from Smith, who took down #72 Ryan Goetz 6-3, 6-3 on court five to make it 1-1. Virginia would rally back, however, netting straight-set wins on courts three, one and six to pocket the victory. Jaede fell on court three with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Brandon Nakashima, and then Virginia's #119 Carl Soderlund topped USC's #56 Holt with a 6-1, 6-4 decision at the No. 1 spot. With three-setters looming on two courts, Virginia was able to step into the winner's circle with the clincher on court six — a 6-4, 6-1 win by Aswin Lizen over USC freshman Sands to wrap things up for both teams in Chicago.

HOLT SCOOPS UP PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

After USC jumped out to a 3-0 start to 2019, junior Brandon Holt collected the first Pac-12 Player of the Week honors of the Trojans' spring campaign. It was Holt's second career selection for the award. Holt had a powerful run for the Trojans in opening 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 8-2 overall in singles play this season, while he and Smith boast a 7-2 record together in doubles.

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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Players Mentioned

Mor Bulis

Daniel Cukierman

Jake DeVine

Bradley Frye

Brandon Holt

Jack Jaede

Jake Sands

Logan Smith

Riley Smith

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven