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No. 15 USC Women’s Tennis To Begin Play At Pac-12 Conference Championship
April 24, 2019 | Women's Tennis, Features
THIS WEEK
The No. 15 ranked USC women's tennis team travels to Ojai, Calif. this weekend to compete in the 2019 Pac-12 Tennis Championships. The tournament runs from April 24 through April 27, and the No. 4 seeded Women of Troy will play their first match on Thursday (April 25) at 9 a.m. PT against No. 5 seed California. The women's championship will be televised on Saturday (April 27) on Pac-12 Bay Area at 12 p.m. PT with Ted Robinson / Prakash Amritraj on the call.
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
In the most recent ITA team rankings (April 23), the Women of Troy remained steady at No. 15.
The ITA also released new singles and doubles rankings on April 23.
In doubles, the duo of Angela Kulikov/Rianna Valdes have continued to improve and have officially claimed the No. 2 doubles ranking in the nation.
In singles, freshman Salma Ewing remains USC's highest ranked player. She improved two spot to No. 52 in the country. Junior Angela Kulikov also improved to No. 105 after previously holding the No. 113 rank.
SCOUTING CALIFORNIA
This will be the third time the Trojans have challenged the Golden Bears this season. On Feb. 16, USC lost 5-2 to Cal in Berkeley, Calif., but defeated the Golden Bears 6-1 when they traveled to Los Angeles on March 29. California is 12-7 overall and 6-4 in Pac-12 Conference play.
California has three singles players in the national rankings: No. 41 Julia Rosenqvist, No. 47 Olivia Hauger and No. 74 Anna Bright. In doubles, the Golden Bears boast four nationally ranked pairs: No. 17 Mraz/Rosenqvist, No. 40 Bright/Dunk, No. 63 Mraz/Stloukalova and No. 88 Hauger/Stloukalova.
BY THE NUMBERS
Freshman Danielle Willson is the only Trojan so far this season to record at least 20 wins with her 25 victories. Fellow freshman Salma Ewing is one match away from breaking into the "20 And Up Club" with her 19 wins so far on the season. Junior Angela Kulikov and sophomore Ana Neffa each have recorded 15 wins.
CLINCHERS
Eight different Trojans have clinched matches for USC this season. Freshmen Danielle Willson and Salma Ewing are each tied with three clinches a piece. Angela Kulikov, Constance Branstine, Sydney Van Alphen, Becca Weissmann and Ana Neffa each have recorded two clinches and Rianna Valdes has tallied one.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
Last year, the Women of Troy fell 4-2 to Arizona State in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 Pac-12 Championships. As a team, the Trojans were not selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament, but former Trojan Gabby Smith represented USC in the Singles Tournament.
WATCH THE TROJANS
For live stats links, click the link in our schedule page at USCTrojans.com. For more live, in-match coverage, follow along on our Instagram and Twitter accounts @USCWomensTennis.
