No. 8 USC Men Take No. 2 Seed To 2019 Pac-12 Tournament

THIS WEEK

No. 8 USC sets up camp out in Ojai, Calif., this week along with the rest of the Pac-12 tennis contingent, ready to do battle for the conference crown. The 2019 Pac-12 Tennis Championships run April 24-27, but the No. 2 seeded Trojans will open up on Thursday (April 25) with a quarterfinal clash against No. 7 seed Washington at 11 a.m. A win would put USC up against either No. 3 seed Stanford or No. 6 seed Arizona in a 4 p.m. semifinal on Friday (April 26) to fight for a spot in the Pac-12 title match at 3 p.m. Saturday (April 26). All the men's action will take place at Libbey Park and will be televised on Pac-12 Bay Area. The semifinals and final will also air on Pac-12 Network, with Ted Robinson and former Prakash Amritraj — a member of USC's 2002 NCAA Championship team — on the calls.

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 April 23) have the Trojans now at No. 8 in the nation. The latest individual rankings also were released April 23, with six Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Junior Brandon Holt leads the way at No. 10 in the nation in singles. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman stands at No. 20, with senior Laurens Verboven at No. 27. They're followed by fellow senior Tanner Smith at No. 61, senior Logan Smith at No. 77 and freshman Bradley Frye at No. 88. In doubles, USC has Holt and Riley Smith now ranked at No. 11 in the land.

TROJANS AT PAC-12 TOURNEYS

Since the team event began in 2012, USC has won three Pac-12 Tournament titles — 2012, 2015 and 2017 — and has reached the final every year but 2016. USC has faced UCLA five times in the title match, winning twice (2012 and 2017) and beat Stanford in the 2015 final.

PAC-12 PLAN

For the eighth year, the Pac-12 is hosting a team men's tennis tournament in Ojai, Calif., to determine the automatic qualifier for the coming NCAA Men's Championships. Teams are seeded based on won-lost percentages during regular-season conference play. On Wednesday (April 24), a match between No. 8 seed Utah and No. 9 seed Oregon opens play at 12 p.m.. On Thursday (April 25), the winner of that first match will face top-seeded UCLA at 12 p.m., preceded by a 9 a.m. matchup between No. 5 seed Arizona State and No. 4 seed Cal. No. 2 seed USC faces No. 7 seed Washington at 3 p.m., followed by No. 3 seeded Stanford's 6 p.m. clash with No. 6 seed Arizona. Semifinals are set for 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday (April 26). All men's tournament matches will be played at Libbey Park, culminating with the team championship at 3 p.m. on Saturday (April 27). Pac-12 Networks will be televising all matches from Thursday-Saturday.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR

After going 6-2 in Pac-12 play in 2018, USC was the No. 3 seed in last year's Pac-12 Tournament and reached the semifinals of the event for the sevenths consecutive season after opening up with a 4-0 win over Arizona State in the quarterfinals. The Trojans went on to shut out No. 2 seeded Stanford 4-0 in the semis to meet rival UCLA in the title match for the second straight year. The Bruins would get the best of the Trojans in the 2018 final, however, winning it 4-1 to take the automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Ranked No. 12 in the nation at that point, USC would still reach NCAA action for the 11th consecutive year while holding a 17-8 overall record.

LAST ACTION

USC swept through two more Pac-12 foes last week to make it a four-match win streak for the Trojans. Against No. 24 Arizona, USC saw a solid doubles effort turn into a tight singles stretch as the visiting Wildcats turned up the pressure down the stretch. In the end, it was a three-set comeback from freshman Mor Bulis that sealed a 4-2 USC victory today at Marks Stadium, where USC also honored its five graduating Trojans — Jake DeVine, Jack Jaede, Logan Smith, Tanner Smith and Laurens Verboven — in a Senior Day ceremony. The next day, USC dug out of a doubles hole and got the job done in singles to beat No. 27 Arizona State 4-2 in the Trojans' regular-season finale. Coming through with the key singles rally for USC were Daniel Cukierman and Mor Bulis, who got USC into the lead. Brandon Holt added to the count, and then Laurens Verboven answered an ASU win with the clincher from court three to tug USC to 17-7 overall and to a 7-1 finish in Pac-12 play, securing the No. 2 seed into the coming Pac-12 Tournament in Ojai.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

Riley Smith's match-clinching singles win vs. UCLA on Feb. 22 made him the seventh Trojan to clinch victory this year. In fact, USC's first seven wins had each 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. He's since clinched his third match (ASU), while Verboven now has four clinchers to his name now after netting the winner vs. ASU. Meanwhile, freshman Mor Bulis clinched his first match as a Trojan with a big win from court six at No. 3 Texas and has since added to his tally with the clincher vs. Arizona last week.

BY THE NUMBERS

USC's winningest player to date is sophomore Daniel Cukierman, who has racked up 29 singles wins and still stands as the lone Trojan in the 20-win zone. Closing in on that club is Jake DeVine with 18 singles wins so far. In the doubles realm, two Trojan duos have hit double digits in the win column. Brandon Holt and Riley Smith hold 13 wins together, while Cukierman and Tanner Smith lead the charge with 14 win as a doubles tandem. In dual matches, Holt and Cukeriman are out front with 14 and 13 respective dual-match singles wins, steps ahead of Jake Sands' 10.

BULIS BREAKS THROUGH

USC freshman Mor Bulis dealt the deciding blow for the Trojans in their 4-2 upset of No. 3 Texas in Austin. For his heroics, he was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. Standing tall on court six, Bulis stepped up to secure his first match-clinching singles win with a 6-2, 7-5 decision over Texas' Chih Chi Huang. Bulis' victory sealed the deal on a 4-2 win over the Longhorns, and claimed USC's second win over a top-5 opponent this season. Bulis, who joined the Trojans this spring, is now 4-4 overall in singles play after this clincher in Austin. He's the second Trojan to be named Pac-12 Player of the Week this season, following two selections for Brandon Holt, as USC now boasts 53 all-time picks for the conference's weekly award.

HOLT DOUBLES UP ON PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

Junior Brandon Holt has now snagged two Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, running his career total up to three and USC's all-time count to 52. On Jan. 29, Holt was honored after USC's 3-0 start to the season, in which Holt collected 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. Then, back in Los Angeles, Holt swept through two singles and two doubles victories in USC's winning run at ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Most recently, Holt snagged three singles wins — two over ranked opponents — and went 2-1 in doubles during USC's run to the final at the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge in Indian Wells. Holt is now 17-5 overall in singles play this season, while he and Smith have posted a 13-5 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 sent 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