NCAA Round of 16 Action Ahead for Brandon Holt and Riley Smith After Wins Today In Winston-Salem

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Now seasoned NCAA participants, sophomores Brandon Holt and Riley Smith are showing their grit in Winston-Salem, N.C. with a victorious day's work in Round of 32 action. Holt opened the day on the singles scene, posting a decisive straight-set win in the Round of 32 to propel himself along to tomorrow's NCAA Singles Round of 16. Later in the day, Holt rejoined fellow sophomore Smith for their opening NCAA Doubles match, and the pair pulled off the upset win to advance. In their first appearance in the NCAA Doubles draw, juniors Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven took a tough tiebreak loss to end their 2018 campaign at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

After a three-set battle in yesterday's opening round, sophomore Brandon Holt was all business this morning in his Round of 32 singles bout against Oklahoma's #30 Alexander Bakshi. A 9-16 seed in this year's NCAA Singles draw, Holt whipped up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Bakshi to decisively earn a spot in tomorrow's Round of 16. That win — along with Holt's high seeding in singles — reinforces Holt's second ITA All-American honor of his young Trojan career. Holt will now advance to the Round of 16 with a matchup ahead against No. 6 seed Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State tomorrow (May 25) at 10 a.m. ET.

After a few hours downtime, Holt got back into action in the NCAA Doubles draw alongside fellow sophomore Riley Smith. In the doubles mix for the second season, the Trojan duo would notch their first NCAA Round of 32 victory in keeping their composure for a comeback upset win over 5-8 seeds Touliatos/Valero of Tennessee. Ranked #10 in the nation, Holt/Smith shrugged off a tiebreaker loss in the first set to the #7 Vols, winning the next set 6-4 to bring up a 10-point tiebreaker to decide things, there, the Trojans held their ground for a 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6) victory that launches Holt/Smith into tomorrow's doubles Round of 16 against Baylor's #15 Little/Schretterat 2 p.m. ET.

In their NCAA Doubles debut, USC juniors Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven went down to the wire against Tulane's Moore/Schmitz in today's opening round. Ranked #9 in the nation and locked in as a 5-8 seed in this year's doubles draw, Jaede/Verboven got an early jump on their opponents in taking the first set. In the second, the Tulane pair would force the issue in claiming that set in a tiebreaker. That brought up a 10-point tiebreaker to decide things. Jaede/Verboven fought off two match points and would hold one of their own before Moore/Schmitz made the final move and claimed a 12-10 win in the breaker to snag the ticket to the Round of 16. The loss leaves Jaede and Verboven still standing tall as USC's winningest doubles team this season, holding a 30-8 overall record in 2018. Jaede/Verboven's high seed in this year's NCAA action also secures them their first career ITA All-American honors.

For schedule updates, scoring and streams, go to http://www.wakeforestsports.com/ncaatennis/

2018 NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (Wake Forest Tennis Complex | Winston-Salem, N.C.)

SINGLES
First Round - May 23
[9-16] #11 Brandon Holt (USC) def. #44 Guy Iradukunda (FSU) - 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

Round of 32 - May 24
[9-16] #11 Brandon Holt (USC) def. #30 Alexander Bakshi (OKLA) - 6-3, 6-4

Round of 16 - May 25
[9-16] #11 Brandon Holt (USC) vs. [6] #6 Mikael Torpegaard (OHIO STATE) - 10 a.m. ET

DOUBLES
First Round - May 24
#10 Holt/R. Smith (USC) def. [5-8] #7 Touliatos/Valero (TENN) - 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6)
#34 Moore/Schmitz (TUL) def. [5-8] #9 Jaede/Verboven (USC) - 3-6, 7-6, 1-0 (12-10)

Round of 16 - May 25
#10 Holt/R. Smith (USC) vs. #15 Little/Schretter (BAY) - 2 p.m. ET

Players Mentioned

Brandon Holt

Jack Jaede

Riley Smith

Laurens Verboven