Men's Tennis | March 15, 2019

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. — The No. 16 USC men's tennis team swept through its first round of action at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge in following up a quick doubles with with a sprint through singles play to beat Cornell 4-0 today in Indian Wells, Calif. Straight-set singles wins were collected by Brandon Holt and Jake Sands to help set up Laurens Verboven for the clincher. With the win, USC improves to 9-5 overall and takes its place in tomorrow's semifinal round against Arizona State at 11 a.m.

USC got the ball rolling on the speedy sweep with a decisive 6-1 doubles win from senior duo Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven on court two. Next, it was top guns #28 Brandon Holt and Riley Smith who cleaned up the first point for the Trojans with a 6-4 decision on court one, sending the teams on through to singles play.

Holt kept up his winning momentum in singles, still at that top spot and serving up a smooth 6-3, 6-0 win over Alefia Ayeni to make it 2-0 Trojans. While senior Logan Smith was getting his first set put away in a tiebreaker, freshman Jake Sands was knocking on the door of USC's next point. Sands came through with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Jake Hansen on court six, while Laurens Verboven was bearing down on the clincher. The #23-ranked senior shoved his way to victory on a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Cornell's Daniel Soyfer on court three to lock up the 4-0 shutout for the Trojans. That suspended action on courts two, four and five, where USC was up a set and looking strong in all three remaining matches. 

Next up is tomorrow's 11 a.m. semifinal match, where USC faces Arizona State to fight for the right to Sunday's championship bout in Indian Wells.

BNP PARIBAS OPEN COLLEGIATE CHALLENGE (Indian Wells, Calif.)

FIRST ROUND
#16 USC 4, Cornell 0
March 15, 2019 | Indian Wells, Calif.
DOUBLES
(1) #28 Holt/R. Smith (USC) def. Ayeni/Vasa (CORN) - 6-4
(2) Jaede/Verboven (USC) def. Hansen/Soyfer (CORN) - 6-1
(3) Cukierman/T. Smith (USC) vs. Kazakov/McAllister (CORN) - 3-5 susp.
Order of finish: 2, 1
USC wins doubles point.
SINGLES
(1) #16 Brandon Holt (USC) def. Alafia Ayeni (CORN) - 6-3, 6-0
(2) #51 Logan Smith (USC) vs. Lev Kazakov (CORN) - 7-6 (5), 0-0 susp.
(3) #23 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. Daniel Soyfer (CORN) - 6-1, 6-2
(4) Riley Smith (USC) vs. David Volfson (CORN) - 6-2, 4-4 susp.
(5) Mor Bulis (USC) vs. Eero Vasa (CORN) - 6-2, 4-4 susp.
(6) Jake Sands (USC) def. Jake Hansen (CORN) - 6-0, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 6, 3*