No. 16 USC Men Set Up Camp In Indian Wells For BNP Paribas Challenge

THIS WEEK

No. 16 USC is off to Indian Wells, Calif., to engage in action at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge, running March 15-17 on the Indian Wells Tennis Garden courts. USC will play three matches in three days at the event, which features eight men's teams. The Trojans (8-5) will open up with an 11 a.m. match against Cornell on Friday (March 15). On Saturday (March 16), No. 16 USC would face either Arizona State or No. 13 Michigan — 8 a.m. in consolation play or 11 a.m. in a semifinal. Both the championship match and consolation final will be held Sunday (March 17) with times still TBD.

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 March 12) have the Trojans now at No. 16 in the nation. The latest individual rankings were released March 5, with seven Trojans still ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman leads the way at No. 6 in the nation in singles. Junior Brandon Holt has popped up at No. 16, with senior Laurens Verboven remains at No. 23. They're followed by fellow seniors Logan Smith at No. 51 and Tanner Smith at No. 55, while freshman Bradley Frye stands at No. 75 and redshirt junior Jake DeVine clocks in at No. 117. In doubles, USC has Holt and Riley Smith now ranked at No. 28 in the land.

BNP PARIBAS COLLEGIATE CHALLENGE

The Trojans are joined by seven other men's teams -— Arizona State, No. 6 Baylor, Cornell, Purdue, No. 31 Cal, Idaho and No. 13 Michigan — out at the Challenge in Indian Wells. Baylor has picked up the No. 1 seed at the event, followed by No. 2 seed Michigan, No. 3 seed USC and No. 4 seed Cal.

LAST ACTION

USC jumped out to an early lead at No. 41 host Utah before the Utes fired back to put some pressure on the visiting Trojans last weekend. On court five, freshman Jake Sands would hold his ground in a tight third set to clinch victory for USC with a 4-2 decision in an indoor clash in Salt Lake City. USC had the upper hand in doubles, claiming two decisive victories to pocket the opening point of the match. On court one, USC's #28 Brandon Holt and Riley Smith topped Utah's Shainyan/Micevski 6-2 just before USC's senior duo of Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven notched a 6-3 win on court two over Utah's Little/Cory. In singles play, USC kept its foot on the gas in picking up two straight-set wins to build out a 3-0 lead. On court four, Mor Bulis whipped up a 6-4, 6-4 win over Utah's Russell Benkaim to make it 2-0, and then #55 Tanner Smith powered up for a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Joe Woolley at the No. 6 spot. The Utes would fire back, however, with a couple straight-set decisions of their own to make things interesting. At the top spot, Utah's #64 Dan Little managed a 7-5, 7-5 win over USC's #16 Brandon Holt to cut it to 3-1. Next, David Micevski got the better of USC's #51 Logan Smith on court two, getting the Utes in reach with his 7-6, 6-3 win that made it 3-2. Third sets would come up on courts three and five, and that's where the Trojans locked back in. Freshman Jake Sands came through with the decider with his 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Mathias Gavelin on court five, and USC had the 4-2 win in hand, suspending action on court three where Riley Smith was looking to finish off Slava Shainyan.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

Riley Smith's match-clinching singles win vs. UCLA made him the seventh Trojan to clinch victory this year. In fact, USC's first seven wins had been secured by a different Trojan. Daniel Cukierman (Cal Poly), Brandon Holt (Florida), Jake Sands (UC Santa Barbara), Logan Smith (UC Davis), Tanner Smith (San Francisco) and Laurens Verboven (South Carolina) all claimed a clincher apiece in USC opening stretch. Coming through with the double? That was freshman Sands, who snagged his second match-clinching victory in USC's road win at Utah.

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 9-6 overall in singles play this season, while he and Smith boast a 10-3 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