No. 5 USC Men Have No. 10 Stanford And Cal In Town This Week

THIS WEEK

No. 5 USC sticks in Los Angeles for another week's work, with two conference foes coming in for nonconference action at Marks Stadium. On Friday (Feb. 8), the Trojans (5-0) will host No. 10 Stanford (4-1) at 3 p.m. before turning to take on California (1-2) at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 9).

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. 6) still have the Trojans locked in as the No. 5 team in the land. The latest individual rankings also were released Feb. 6, with seven Trojans now ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman leads the way at No. 4 in the nation in singles. Senior Laurens Verboven now weighs in at No. 31, followed by fellow seniors Logan Smith at No. 39 and Tanner Smith at No. 50. Junior Brandon Holt has popped up at No. 56, while redshirt junior Jake DeVine clocks in at No. 94 and freshman Bradley Frye stands at No. 121. In doubles, USC has Cukierman and Tanner Smith now ranked at No. 21 in the land.

SCOUTING STANFORD

The No. 10 Cardinal is 4-1 overall after taking a 6-1 loss to No. 2 Ohio State last weekend. Stanford has four players ranked nationally in singles: #10 Axel Geller, #33 William Genesen, #43 Sameer Kumar and #61 Alexandre Rotsaert. In doubles, Stanford has no ranked pairs. USC is 115-80 all-time against the Cardinal in a series that dates back to 1925. Last year, USC and Stanford split, with the Cardinal winning 4-2 in Los Angeles during the regular season before USC claimed a 4-0 win in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament in Ojai.

SCOUTING CAL

The Golden Bears are 1-2 overall after a 4-2 loss to Virginia and a 4-0 win over Wyoming during ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Cal has no players ranked nationally in singles. In doubles, Cal has #8 Brumm/Kikuchi and #17 Barretto/Kaya in the rankings. USC is 141-34 all-time against the Golden Bears in a series that dates back to 1927. Last year, USC posted a 4-2 win over Cal in Los Angeles during the regular season.

HOLT SCOOPS UP PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

After USC jumped out to a 3-0 start to 2019, USC 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 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 6-2 overall in singles play this season, while he and Smith boast a 6-1 record together in doubles.

LAST WEEK

USC pulled double duty last weekend at Marks Stadium and emerged with a near-perfect day, dropping just two doubles matches in a busy day's work that saw the Trojans take down visiting UC Davis 6-1 and San Francisco 7-0. With some new doubles pairings in the mix, Mor Bulis and Jack Jaede would come through with two doubles wins apiece along with singles victories to help pace the Trojans to two wins and a 5-0 overall record after today's action. Daniel Cukierman and Jake DeVine also captured two singles wins apiece on the day. In doubles against the Aggies, USC got an early leg up in finding a winning combination with a new pairing of freshman Mor Bulis and senior Jack Jaede, who whipped up a 6-1 win on court two. UC Davis would fire back with a 6-4 decision on court one, however, with Goulak/Thanna topping USC's Brandon Holt and Logan Smith 6-4. That put all eyes on court three, where the Aggies had fought back from down 2-5 to force a tiebreaker. In the breaker, USC's Jake DeVine and Jake Sands saw their UC Davis opponents Jalali/Swanson fend off another deficit, down 2-4 and winning the breaker 7-4 to get the opening point in the Aggies' column on the 7-6 (4) decision. USC would have to rebound in singles play, and the Trojans showed their resilience in snagging first sets on five courts. At the No. 6 spot, redshirt junior #56 Jake DeVine churned out a 6-0, 6-4 win over Dariush Jalali to snarl things up 1-1. Moments later, Brandon Holt stayed the course for a smooth 6-1, 6-1 win on court one over Ivan Thamma to tug the Trojans into the lead. From the No. 5 spot, senior Jack Jaede pulled his Trojans into position for a clincher with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Arjith Jayaraman, and USC was up 3-1. With two USC courts closing in on the finish line, it was senior #32 Logan Smith who came through with the clinching victory. He'd post a 6-0, 7-5 win over Chethan Swanson on court four to seal the win at 4-1, and the teams played on. On court two, #8 Daniel Cukierman hammered out a 6-3, 6-3 win over David Goulak to make it 5-1 USC, and there was just one three-setter raging on on court three. There, USC newcomer Mor Bulis was in a battle against UC Davis' Nil Giraldez in the match's finale. After dropping the first set 4-6, Bulis powered up and took the second 6-1 just before the match had been clinched by Smith. In the third, Bulis turned the tide and got up two breaks and wrapped things up on a 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 comeback win to make it a 6-1 USC victory over UC Davis. A half hour later, the Trojans turned to take on San Francisco. With a new-look doubles lineup, USC picked up the opening point with a strong showing down the line. Back in action on court two was #45 Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith, who got back into winning form with a 6-3 victory. Courts one and three, both Trojan duos were on a mission to hit the finish line first. At the No. 3 spot, Jack Jaede and Jake Sands drummed up a 6-4 win just moments before Mor Bulis and Riley Smith mirrored that score at the top spot. That plugged a 1-0 lead onto the scoreboard for the Trojans and brought up singles action. The Trojans would haul in first sets down the line, and USC jumped out to a 3-0 lead fairly swiftly, with Riley Smith knocking out a 6-0, 6-3 win over Paul Giraud from the No. 2 slot. Next, #56 Jake Devine stayed perfect on the day with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Oz Daniel at No. 5, and USC was in reach of the clincher, up 3-0. With doubles teammates Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith neck-and-neck in pursuit of the clinching win, it would be #34 Smith who drummed up the 4-0 Trojan lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 4 over Phuc Huynh. The match played on, and Bradley Frye was the next to join the win column, netting a 6-3, 6-3 win on court six over David Woodland for a lift to 5-0 for his Trojans. At the top slot, #8 Daniel Cukierman was all business in his second-set tiebreaker to finish out a 6-0 lead on his 6-0, 7-6 (2) victory over Ryan Marker, leaving just one match still underway. At the No. 3 spot, freshman Jake Sands whipped up the capper, topping Nitzan Ricklis 6-4, 6-4 to wrap the day's action on a winning doubleheader for the Trojans.

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