No. 3 USC Men Head North For Nonconference Tests At Stanford & Cal

THIS WEEK

No. 3 USC has dual-match action on the road ahead, with a trip to the Bay Area on tap for the 2-0 Trojans. USC lines up first against No. 11 Stanford in a 2 p.m. faceoff on Friday (Jan. 31) in Palo Alto. Then, it's up to Berkeley to take on No. 15 California at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 1). These matches do not count toward Pac-12 records.

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. 29), 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 STANFORD

The No. 11 Cardinal is 3-0 overall after beating Tulane 4-1 and Cal 4-0 on ITA Kickoff Weekend. Stanford has two ranked singles players — #18 Alex Rotsaert and #54 Sangeet Sridhar — and no ranked doubles teams. In a series dating back to 1925, USC is 117-81 all-time against the Cardinal after a 4-2 Trojan win when the teams last met in last year's Pac-12 Tournament semifinal.

SCOUTING CAL

The No. 15 Golden Bears are 1-1 overall after beating Miami 4-0 and falling to Stanford 4-0 on ITA Kickoff Weekend. Cal has three ranked singles players — #34 Yuta Kikuchi, #49 Jack Molloy and #81 Bjorn Hoffmann. In doubles, Cal has two ranked teams — #22 Draper/Hoffmann and #54 Brumm/Kikuchi. In a series dating back to 1927, USC is 143-35 all-time against the Bears after a 4-0 Trojan win when the teams last met in last year's Pac-12 Tournament championship match.

LAST ACTION

USC will print tickets to ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the 12th straight year thanks to a pair of 4-0 wins on ITA Kickoff Weekend at Marks Stadium. On Friday, USC served up a season-opening shutout of UNCW, netting a speedy 6-1 win on court one from veterans Daniel Cukierman and Riley Smith over UNCW's #36 Caula/Groom. And while USC's Mor Bulis and Ryder Jackson were closing in on victory on court two, the young guns on court three — Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye — pounced on the clinching doubles point with a 6-2 win over Gooch/Groetsch to make it 1-0 Trojans. In singles, Freshman #64 Ryder Jackson was determined to lock in his first dual-match win as a Trojan, rattling off a 6-3, 6-0 win over Davide Innocenti on court five to make it 2-0. Then it was sophomore Bradley Frye who hit the finish line. Frye notched his 6-3, 6-2 win over Michael Copeland on court six just moments before the clincher came from court one. There, USC's top-ranked Daniel Cukierman shoved past UNCW's Austin Hussey for a 6-3, 6-1 victory that sealed the 4-0 sweep for the Trojans and suspended action on the remaining courts. In Saturday's championship bout against an upset-minded Santa Clara squad, the Trojans quieted the Broncos with a swift move to the doubles point followed by a string of straight-set singles wins — clinched again by Daniel Cukierman — to net a 4-0 win. USC's doubles duo of Dostanic and Frye set the scene, silencing their SCU opponents 6-0 on court three to kick things off. Next, Bulis and Jackson roared to a 6-3 win on court two, and USC was in the books with a 1-0 advantage. The Broncos snagged first sets on two courts, but the Trojans were in solid shape otherwise. Frye continued his hot streak, pumping out a 6-1, 6-0 win on court six over Nick Cmager to get USC a 2-0 lead. It was a winning day for #9 Bulis as well, who followed up his doubles win with a smooth 6-1, 6-1 victory over Vasilelos Iliopoulos on court three to tee up Cukierman for another clincher. The top-ranked Trojan hit the finish line with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Arthur Neuhaus on court one to round out the weekend's work for the Trojans and lock in another victorious ITA Kickoff Weekend for USC.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Mor Bulis

Daniel Cukierman

Stefan Dostanic

Bradley Frye

Brandon Holt

Ryder Jackson

Jake Sands

Riley Smith

Tanner Smith

Laurens Verboven