University Southern California Trojans
Saturday, February 10
Los Angeles, CA
10:00 AM
USC
vs
UC Irvine
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Photo by: Trevor Sochocki
No. 8 USC Men Double Up For Saturday’s Return To Marks Stadium
February 08, 2018 | Men's Tennis, Features
Trojans host UC Irvine and San Francisco in a doubleheader on Saturday.
THIS WEEK
No. 8 USC is back on home turf this week to set up for a doubleheader at Marks Stadium. On Saturday (Feb. 10), the Trojans will host UC Irvine at 10 a.m. followed by a 2 p.m. matchup against San Francisco.
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
For the 11th 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 land to start the spring season. The latest ITA team rankings (released Feb. 7) have the Trojans still standing at No. 8. In the latest individual rankings (released Feb. 7), sophomore Brandon Holt remains the frontrunner for the Trojans, ranked No. 11 in the nation in singles. Junior Logan Smith stands at No. 119 in the nation in singles. USC has no ranked doubles teams as of this latest round of rankings.
SCOUTING UCI
The Anteaters are 1-2 after a 4-0 victory over UC San Diego and a 1-4 loss to Grand Canyon on Jan. 21. UC Irvine does not have any ranked singles players or doubles teams. USC holds a strong advantage over UC Irvine with a 44-3 all-time record against the Anteaters. USC secured their 44th win over UC Irvine last season with a 6-1 victory in Los Angeles.
SCOUTING USF
The Dons hold a 2-2 record after suffering a 4-2 loss to UC Davis last week. San Francisco does not have any ranked singles players or doubles teams. USC holds a 11-3 all-time record over San Francisco. USC defeated the Dons 6-1 last season in Los Angeles.
LAST WEEK
USC got stuck with its first loss of the season in a 6-1 decision at the hands of No. 10 Stanford. Playing a nonconference bout on the Cardinal's home turf, USC lost a tight doubles point and then saw its host rattle off the next four singles wins to secure victory. The Cardinal pulled off the doubles point after a split on the top two courts. With the deciding point sitting on court three, Stanford was able to edge out Trojans Tanner Smith and Mateusz Smolicki in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (6), to get a 1-0 lead on the board for the hosts. Stanford had claimed victory first on court two, snapping an eight-match win streak held by USC's Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven. Coming through with the equalizer was USC's #6 Brandon Holt and Riley Smith on court one, setting up that tight decider on court three. In singles, Stanford again struck first, as Sameer Kumar claimed a 6-3, 6-3 win over Verboven at the No. 3 spot. On court two, Stanford's Axel Geller would push past USC's #54 Logan Smith with a 6-4, 7-5 decision that pulled the Cardinal to a 3-0 advantage. Coming through with the clincher for the Cardinal was #101 Tom Fawcett, who upended USC's #11 Holt 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 at the top spot to net a 4-0 lead and secure victory for the hosts. On court five, Stanford would make it a 5-0 lead when Eric Fomba fended off #96 Thibault Forget for a 7-5, 7-6 (5) win. Coming through with USC's first point of the day was Jake DeVine on court six, where the Trojan whipped up a three-set comeback to back William Genesen 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to make it 5-1 Stanford. In the final match, it would come down to a tiebreaker on court four, as David Wilczinski fought back to beck #82 Jaede 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) and wrap a 6-1 Stanford win.
WINNING ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND
USC punched a 10th straight ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships after following a 6-1 win over Indiana with a 6-1 win over visiting UC Santa Barbara in ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship match at Marks Stadium last weekend. For the second straight match, USC freshman Daniel Cukierman came through with the singles clincher to secure victory for his Trojan team. In Friday's opening match vs. Indiana, USC raced into the lead in its matchup against Indiana, tacking up 6-1 victories on courts two and three in doubles to pin up that 1-0 advantage. Cukierman and Tanner Smith locked up their 6-1 decision first, beating Indiana's Brodney/Lam on court three. At the No. 2 spot, USC's Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven matched that score, topping Crane/Salgado 6-1 to get USC into the lead and suspend action on court one. That's where USC's #6 tandem of Brandon Holt and Riley Smith were up 4-1 on Manji/Tabrizi before that USC point went on the board and the teams turned to singles action. Stepping into the lineup for singles, Jake DeVine whipped up a 2-0 lead for the Trojans with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Zac Brodney on court six. Soon after, #6 Brandon Holt mirrored that score, beating #125 Raheel Manji 6-4, 6-3 at the top spot to net a 3-0 USC advantage. Before USC could come through with a sweep, Indiana's Brandon Lam upended USC's #82 Jaede on court five with a three-set comeback. The 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 Hoosier win made it 3-1 Trojans with three-setters going on all remaining courts. It would be USC newcomer Cukierman who secured the Trojan victory with his 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 clincher on court two over Indiana's Antonio Cembellin. Up 4-1 with the championship matchup in place for tomorrow, this match played on. USC's Verboven tugged the Trojans to a 5-1 lead with his 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Bennett Crane on court four, and then USC's #54 Logan Smith closed things down for the day with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 comeback win over Keivon Tabrizi on court three. In the championship matchup against the Gauchos, USC first made a power move to a 1-0 lead with doubles wins on courts one and two. Top guns Holt and Riley Smith recorded their first win of the new season with a 6-3 decision over UC Santa Barbara's Holm/Moreno de Alboran. Soon after, Jaede and Verboven continued their winning ways, claiming an eighth straight victory while taking the Trojans to a 1-0 lead with a 6-4 victory on court two over Gauchos Freund/Rotheram. In singles play, USC's Logan Smith sprinted to a 6-1, 6-4 win on court three over Anders Holm to give USC a lift to a 2-0 lead. As matches tightened up on other courts, Thibault Forget worked up a 3-0 advantage for the Trojans with his 6-2, 6-4 finish over UCSB's Hironori Koyanagi on court six. The Gauchos would fire back with a win on court five, however, ensuring that the match would rage on as Victor Krustev managed a 6-3, 7-5 (3) win over DeVine at the No. 5 spot. That left three-setters going on the remaining courts. On court two, however, Cukierman would recover from a first-set slip to roar to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 comeback that clinched the match for USC with his victory over Simon Freund on court two. So, too, would Verboven finish off a comeback effort on court five, as just moments later he claimed a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Joseph Huillin on court four to make it 5-1 Trojans. The match on court one would play on, and USC's Holt would shrug off a second set tiebreaker loss to wrap the day's action with a 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 win over UCSB's Nicolas Moreno de Alboran that made it a 6-1 final in USC's favor.
BY THE NUMBERS
As dual match play heats up, three Trojans have hit double digits in the singles win column. Sophomore Brandon Holt leads the pack with 13 singles wins, with a 3-1 record in dual-match action at the No. 1 spot. Jake DeVine has 11 wins and Laurens Verboven has 10 in singles action. In the doubles realm, the hottest hands belong to Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven, who are off to a 10-2 start thanks in part to a perfect 7-0 record together during the month of January.
SHERWOOD CHAMPS
In the opening individual action of the new year, the USC men's tennis team stretched its muscles at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup and found success on the doubles courts. In competition featuring players from UCLA, Stanford and Baylor, it was the Trojan doubles duo of Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven that emerged victorious, sweeping through to the double title today out at the Sherwood Country Club. One of two USC doubles duos in the mix for this one, the No. 3 seeded pairing of Jaede and Verboven proved a force to reckon with, surrendering no more than three games in each contest across the three-day event. The closest affair was the title match, where Jaede/Verboven took down top-seeded Genender/Kumar of Stanford with a 6-3 decision after having topped UCLA's No. 2 seeded Rapp/Smith decisively, 6-2, in the morning's semifinals.
PRESEASON PICKS
The first set of 2017-18 individual rankings came out during the fall as preseason rankings, which had five Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Sophomore Brandon Holt was the frontrunner for the Trojans, ranked No. 11 in the nation in singles and No. 6 in doubles with trusty sophomore teammate Riley Smith. Next in line in singles was No. 54 junior Logan Smith, followed by No. 82 junior Jack Jaede, No. 96 senior Thibault Forget and No. 120 sophomore Riley Smith.
LAST SEASON
The 2017 Trojans — under the direction of head coach Peter Smith for the 15th season — locked up the Pac-12 Tournament Championship and went on to reach the NCAA Round of 16. Along the way, Smith gathered in his 600th career win as a head coach. Freshman Brandon Holt emerged as an ITA All-American in singles after going 35-9 overall and wrapping the year ranked No. 17 in the nation. Also named the ITA Southwest Region's Rookie of the Year and Player to Watch sophomore Logan Smith (23-18 overall) ended up No. 94 in the nation, while senior Nick Crystal (16-14 overall) completed his USC career ranked No. 107. Crystal also paired with USC sophomore Laurens Verboven at No. 73 in the land with a 24-7 overall record. Holt and Riley Smith finished their first season together as Trojans ranked No. 11 in the nation - just a spot short of All-American honors. As a team, USC finished the 2016-17 season ranked No. 6 in the nation after posting a 27-6 overall record with a run to the NCAA Round of 16 in Athens, Ga.
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