No. 3 USC Men Host ITA Kick-Off Weekend For The 12th Straight Year

THIS WEEK

No. 3 USC jumps into dual-match action for the first time this weekend, set up as host of ITA Kick-Off Weekend competition at Mark Stadium Jan. 25-26. The Trojans' 2020 campaign kicks off against UNCW at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 25) following a 10 a.m. clash between Santa Clara and UC Santa Barbara. On Sunday (Jan. 26), losing teams square off in a Consolation Match at 10 a.m. before a 1 p.m. Championship Match between Saturday's winners. The victor in that afternoon match will punch a ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships next month in Wisconsin. The USC men have won the ITA Kick-Off event every year since it began in 2009, having secured 11 consecutive trips to the ITA National Team Indoors.

ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES

USC opened up 2020 as the No. 3 team in the preseason national Oracle/ITA rankings — a notable upgrade from last season's No. 8 finish and reflective of the depth of talent on the Trojans' roster. In the latest team rankings (released Jan. 22), USC remains at No. 3 in the nation. As of the final ITA rankings of the fall (released Nov. 13, 2019), Daniel Cukierman looms largest with his #1 singles ranking, making him the first Trojan since 2012 to stand as the top-ranked player in the nation. Joining him in the top-10 is #9 Mor Bulis, who also is enjoying his highest career rank at USC. Five other Trojans are slated in the singles rankings — #25 Brandon Holt, #26 Riley Smith, #37 Stefan Dostanic, #64 Ryder Jackson and #84 Jake Sands. In doubles, USC has four ranks pairs. Riley Smith weighs in on three of those, standing at #12 with Bradley Frye, #24 with Holt and #43 with Jackson. Sitting at #44 is Dostanic and Holt.

SCOUTING SANTA CLARA

The Broncos are unranked and coming off a 2019 season in which they went 17-8 overall. Santa Clara has no ranked singles players and one ranked doubles team: #52 Neuhaus/Iliopoulos. USC is 3-0 all-time against the Broncos after their first meeting in 2006. The teams last met in the 2015 ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship, which USC won 4-0 at Marks Stadium.

SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA

The Gauchos are unranked and coming off a 2019 season in which they reached the NCAA Second Round and finished 17-7 overall. UCSB has no ranked singles players nor doubles teams. USC is 33-1 all-time against the Gauchos since they first met in 1929. The teams last met in last year's ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship, which USC won 4-1 at Marks Stadium.

SCOUTING UNCW

The Seahawks are unranked and coming off a 2019 season in which finished 12-11 overall. UNCW has no ranked singles players and one ranked doubles team: #36 Caula/Groom. USC and UNCW have met just once before — a 6-1 USC victory in the 2012 ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship at Marks Stadium.

DANIEL DOUBLES UP

USC junior Daniel Cukierman double-dipped his way into two trophies at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup, claiming the singles crown on Jan. 20 after he and Riley Smith teamed up for the doubles title the day prior in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Top-ranked in the nation and the top seed in the singles draw, Cukierman had a bye in the opening round and would advance by walkover into the quarterfinals. There, he'd have to contend with his freshman teammates #37 Stefan Dostanic, and it was a battle. After three sets of work, Cukierman had bested his fellow Trojan 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to take a spot in the semifinals and put an end to Dostanic's two-win start to the spring. In the semis, Cukierman was up against Stanford's Axel Geller, and the USC captain rolled to a straight-set victory that sent him into today's title match. Again, Cukierman would gut out a three-set decision, topping Stanford's #18 Alex Rotsaert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to claim the Sherwood Collegiate Cup singles championship. As he lifted the singles trophy in Thousand Oaks, Cukierman was not even 24 hours past the doubles championship that he had claimed alongside Riley Smith on the same court. Paired up for just the second time in their careers, Cukierman and Smith were the top-seeded pair in the doubles draw, earning a first-round bye before launching into their winning run. The two Trojans dispatched Texas A&M's Kumar/Schachter 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Stanford's Geller/Rajesh 7-5 in the semis before mirroring that score and edging out UCLA's Nanda/K. Smith in the title match. For his winning run at Sherwood, Cukierman claimed his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week award on Jan. 21.

FEARSOME FALL

In fall 2019, USC had Trojans win at least one individual title at five out of seven tournaments competed in. In addition, two Trojan freshmen reached tournament title matches:

SINGLES

Daniel Cukierman -— Oracle ITA Masters champion

Mor Bulis — Milwaukee Tennis Classic champion

Brandon Holt — Battle in the Bay champion

Stefan Dostanic — ITA Southwest Regional finalist

Ryder Jackson — SoCal Intercollegiate finalist

DOUBLES

Brandon Holt / Riley Smith — ITA Southwest Regional champions

Stefan Dostanic / Brandon Holt — Battle in the Bay champions

BY THE NUMBERS

USC's winningest player to date is junior Daniel Cukierman, who has racked up 12 singles wins to just barely edge out teammates Mor Bulis, Ryder Jackson and Riley Smith with 11 apiece. That foursome are the only Trojans with 10-plus wins on the singles side. In doubles, USC has two pairs with five wins each — Bulis/Cukierman and Brandon Holt/ Riley Smith. Holt also holds the distinction of being undefeated in both singles and doubles to date — 5-0 in singles, 4-0 in doubles with Stefan Dostanic and 5-0 with Smith.

LAST SEASON

USC went 22-8 overall last year with a run to the NCAA Round of 16, finishing the 2019 season ranked No. 8 in the nation while also boasting honors as the Pac-12 Tournament Champion. In earning a No. 5 seed and reaching the NCAA Singles Quartefinals, Brandon Holt closed out his junior campaign as an ITA All-American once again, along with status as the Pac-12 Player of the Year. Holt was joined on the All-Pac-12 awards list by fellow first-teamer Daniel Cukierman, with Laurens Verboven earning second-team honors and Tanner Smith on the honorable mention list. Holt, Cukierman and Tanner Smith all earned a place in the NCAA Singles draw and secured first-round wins. Additionally Holt paired with Riley Smith in the NCAA Doubles draw.

Players Mentioned

Mor Bulis

Daniel Cukierman

Stefan Dostanic

Bradley Frye

Brandon Holt

Ryder Jackson

Jake Sands

Riley Smith

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven