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Trojan Contingent Sets Up For NCAA Individual Action in Orlando
May 19, 2019 | Men's Tennis, Features
2019 NCAA TENNIS CENTRAL2019 NCAA MEN'S SINGLES BRACKET2019 NCAA MEN'S DOUBLES BRACKETUSC RECORDS & RESULTS (PDF)USC NCAA NOTES (PDF)
Three Trojans start NCAA Singles play on Monday; Doubles duo gets going Tuesday.
THIS WEEK
After making a push to the NCAA Team Round of 16 for the 13th straight season and closing down team action with a 22-8 overall record, USC men's tennis turns to individual action out in Orlando, Fla., with four Trojans locked in for the next stretch of NCAA play, which runs May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus. It'll be the first career NCAA appearance for sophomore Daniel Cukierman and senior Tanner Smith, while Brandon Holt is making his third journey into the NCAA singles draw and his third in doubles alongside fellow junior Riley Smith. Recently crowned the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, Holt also has scored the No. 5 seed into the singles bracket. Cukierman, Holt and Tanner Smith are in the field of 64 singles players who will open competition on May 20, with Holt and Riley Smith paired up among a 32-team draw of doubles duos starting up on May 21.
BACK FOR MORE
Currently carrying a 10-match singles win streak, No. 5-seeded junior Brandon Holt had his highest career singles ranking at No. 4 in the land to open up this 2018-19 season. Since then, Holt has collected a 19-5 overall singles record while holding strong as the No. 6-ranked singles player in the nation. As the No. 5 seed for the NCAA Singles stretch, Holt is also assured his fourth set of ITA All-American honors. Holt and his longtime doubles partner Riley Smith started the 2018-19 campaign ranked No. 2 in the nation. They were slotted at No. 10 in the land as of the latest national rankings (May 1) to help punch their ticket into the NCAA doubles draw for the third straight season. All-Americans in doubles together last year, Holt/Smith reached the 2018 NCAA Round of 16 after a first-round appearance in their 2017 NCAA debut. This year, Holt and Smith are currently 15-6 overall in doubles.
NCAA NEWBIES
New to the NCAA scene this season are sophomore Daniel Cukierman and senior Tanner Smith. In his second season as a Trojan, Cukierman set his career-high singles mark at No. 4 in the nation this February. He's USC's winningest singles player with his powerful 33-10 overall record while he currently weighs in at No. 24 in the national singles rankings. Already this season, he claimed the SoCal Intercollegiate singles crown and reached the final of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. Smith — the eldest of USC head coach Peter Smith's three sons — will close out his Trojan career with his first NCAA appearance. Currently ranked No. 57 in the nation, Smith has won five straight singles matches and is 17-6 overall for a personal season-high singles win count. He reached the ITA Southwest Regional singles final in the fall, just before working up to a career high No. 34 national ranking in November 2018
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
For the 12th 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 nation to open the spring. The latest ITA team rankings (released May 1) have the Trojans at No. 8 in the nation. The latest individual rankings also were released May 1, with six Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Junior Brandon Holt leads the way at No. 6 in the nation in singles. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman stands at No. 24, with senior Laurens Verboven at No. 40. They're followed by fellow senior Tanner Smith at No. 57, senior Logan Smith at No. 84 and freshman Bradley Frye at No. 109. In doubles, USC has Holt and Riley Smith now ranked at No. 10 in the land.
NCAA NOTES
USC made its 13th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, and 41st overall appearance. In this year's team tourney, the No. 8-seeded Trojans have officially extended their stretch of reaching at least the NCAA Round of 16 to 13 straight seasons, earning a rematch against No. 9 seeded North Carolina in this year's Super Regionals. The Tar Heels got the 4-2 win in this clash to take the ticket to Orlando and leave USC with a 22-8 overall record. With five NCAA crowns claimed since 2009, USC continues to lead the nation with 21 national championships all-time, and now holds a 107-35 overall record in the NCAA Tournament after this year's Round of 16 appearance. USC was a No. 10 seed last season in a run to the NCAA Quarterfinals in Winston-Salem. During USC's current 13-year run of NCAA appearances, USC has been seeded No. 1 (2012 & 2014), No. 2 (2011), No. 4 (2013 & 2017), No. 5 (2010), No. 7 (2015), No. 8 (2009 & 2019), No. 10 (2016 & 2018) and No. 12 (2007) — with NCAA titles captured in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
TROJANS TO DATE
The USC men earned automatic qualification into the 2019 NCAA Tournament as champions of the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament, where the Trojans beat Washington 4-0 in the quarterfinals and Stanford 4-2 in the semifinals before posting a 4-0 win over Cal in the title match in Ojai. Ranked No. 8 in the nation, Peter Smith's 2019 Trojans secured USC's third consecutive 20-win season. Individually, eight Trojans hit double digits in the singles win column. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman leads the pack with 33 singles victories. Freshman Jake Sands is next in line with 20, followed closely by Brandon Holt with 19, thanks to a current 10-match win streak. Behind that trio in the singles win count are Jake DeVine (18), Tanner Smith (17), Laurens Verboven (15), Riley Smith (13) and Logan Smith (11). In the doubles realm, the hottest hands belonged to Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith, who just missed cracking the 20-win barrier with a 19-8 final mark together. Meanwhile, top guns Brandon Holt and Riley Smith are now 15-6 overall, and Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven gathered in a 12-6 record together to round out the Trojans' formidable doubles lineup.
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES
In the first-ever collegiate dual match to be played at a Grand Slam, No. 5 USC showed resilience under a warm Australian sun on its official 2019 opener, gutting out a 4-0 victory over No. 25 South Carolina on the courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne. The Trojans snagged a quick doubles point and looked in position for a swift string of singles wins until the Gamecocks dug in and forced three sets on four courts. USC was able to net straight-set wins from freshman Jake Sands and sophomore Daniel Cukierman before things got tangled, and then Laurens Verbovencame through with the clincher to wrap USC's memorable visit to Melbourne and get USC a 1-0 start to the 2019 campaign. The doubles point was a quick fix for the Trojans, who rattled off two swift victories to pocket a 1-0 lead. At the No. 1 spot, Brandon Holt and Riley Smith peeled out to a 6-1 win, putting Daniel Cukierman and Bradley Frye in position to snag the opening point. The sophomore-freshman duo locked in with a 6-2 victory on court three, and the Trojans were off to singles play with the 1-0 advantage in their court. In singles, USC claimed first sets down the line, but the Gamecocks fired back on four courts. At the No. 6 spot, however, USC freshman Jake Sands held firm and scored USC's first singles win of the day on a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Jake Beasley to make it 2-0 Trojans. Next, USC's #8 Daniel Cukierman sidestepped a third and closed out a 6-2, 7-5 win over South Carolina's Yancy Davis on court two, and USC was up 3-0 with four courts tangled up in third sets. On court one, Brandon Holt rebounded from dropping the first set in a tiebreaker against #7 Paul Jubb, and the top guns would continue to battle in the third while the finish line neared on other courts. Jack Jaede and Riley Smith were both in tight third sets on courts four and five, respectively, while #19 Laurens Verboven also was in lockstep with South Carolina's Daniel Rodrigues on court three. Finally, Verboven found the finishing touch, getting one last break to clinch the match on his 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win. That suspended the remaining matches, and sent USC home to Los Angeles with a key win to build momentum in the early goings of the 2019 season.
LAST SEASON
USC went 20-9 overall last year with a run to the NCAA Quarterfinals, finishing the 2018 season ranked No. 11 in the nation. For the first time since 1993, USC men's tennis landed multiple Trojan doubles pairs on the ITA All-America honor roll. It also was 25 years ago that USC last finished a season with more than three ITA All-Americans, as the Trojans boasted four honorees for 2018 in Brandon Holt, Riley Smith, Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven. All but Holt were first-time All-Americans, with Holt adding 2018 singles and doubles All-American honors to his 2017 singles pick from his freshman campaign. Holt and Smith finished 2018 ranked as the No. 9 doubles team in the nation to secure their doubles All-American status, while Jaede and Verboven snagged their first All-American honors as a 5-8 seed in the NCAA Doubles draw as well as a No. 10 final ranking. A three-time All-American, Brandon Holt secured his second singles selection as a 9-16 seed in his second appearance in the NCAA Singles draw. Holt also powered through to the NCAA Round of 16 in singles and in doubles with Smith.
After making a push to the NCAA Team Round of 16 for the 13th straight season and closing down team action with a 22-8 overall record, USC men's tennis turns to individual action out in Orlando, Fla., with four Trojans locked in for the next stretch of NCAA play, which runs May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus. It'll be the first career NCAA appearance for sophomore Daniel Cukierman and senior Tanner Smith, while Brandon Holt is making his third journey into the NCAA singles draw and his third in doubles alongside fellow junior Riley Smith. Recently crowned the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, Holt also has scored the No. 5 seed into the singles bracket. Cukierman, Holt and Tanner Smith are in the field of 64 singles players who will open competition on May 20, with Holt and Riley Smith paired up among a 32-team draw of doubles duos starting up on May 21.
BACK FOR MORE
Currently carrying a 10-match singles win streak, No. 5-seeded junior Brandon Holt had his highest career singles ranking at No. 4 in the land to open up this 2018-19 season. Since then, Holt has collected a 19-5 overall singles record while holding strong as the No. 6-ranked singles player in the nation. As the No. 5 seed for the NCAA Singles stretch, Holt is also assured his fourth set of ITA All-American honors. Holt and his longtime doubles partner Riley Smith started the 2018-19 campaign ranked No. 2 in the nation. They were slotted at No. 10 in the land as of the latest national rankings (May 1) to help punch their ticket into the NCAA doubles draw for the third straight season. All-Americans in doubles together last year, Holt/Smith reached the 2018 NCAA Round of 16 after a first-round appearance in their 2017 NCAA debut. This year, Holt and Smith are currently 15-6 overall in doubles.
NCAA NEWBIES
New to the NCAA scene this season are sophomore Daniel Cukierman and senior Tanner Smith. In his second season as a Trojan, Cukierman set his career-high singles mark at No. 4 in the nation this February. He's USC's winningest singles player with his powerful 33-10 overall record while he currently weighs in at No. 24 in the national singles rankings. Already this season, he claimed the SoCal Intercollegiate singles crown and reached the final of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. Smith — the eldest of USC head coach Peter Smith's three sons — will close out his Trojan career with his first NCAA appearance. Currently ranked No. 57 in the nation, Smith has won five straight singles matches and is 17-6 overall for a personal season-high singles win count. He reached the ITA Southwest Regional singles final in the fall, just before working up to a career high No. 34 national ranking in November 2018
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
For the 12th 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 nation to open the spring. The latest ITA team rankings (released May 1) have the Trojans at No. 8 in the nation. The latest individual rankings also were released May 1, with six Trojans ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. Junior Brandon Holt leads the way at No. 6 in the nation in singles. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman stands at No. 24, with senior Laurens Verboven at No. 40. They're followed by fellow senior Tanner Smith at No. 57, senior Logan Smith at No. 84 and freshman Bradley Frye at No. 109. In doubles, USC has Holt and Riley Smith now ranked at No. 10 in the land.
NCAA NOTES
USC made its 13th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, and 41st overall appearance. In this year's team tourney, the No. 8-seeded Trojans have officially extended their stretch of reaching at least the NCAA Round of 16 to 13 straight seasons, earning a rematch against No. 9 seeded North Carolina in this year's Super Regionals. The Tar Heels got the 4-2 win in this clash to take the ticket to Orlando and leave USC with a 22-8 overall record. With five NCAA crowns claimed since 2009, USC continues to lead the nation with 21 national championships all-time, and now holds a 107-35 overall record in the NCAA Tournament after this year's Round of 16 appearance. USC was a No. 10 seed last season in a run to the NCAA Quarterfinals in Winston-Salem. During USC's current 13-year run of NCAA appearances, USC has been seeded No. 1 (2012 & 2014), No. 2 (2011), No. 4 (2013 & 2017), No. 5 (2010), No. 7 (2015), No. 8 (2009 & 2019), No. 10 (2016 & 2018) and No. 12 (2007) — with NCAA titles captured in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
TROJANS TO DATE
The USC men earned automatic qualification into the 2019 NCAA Tournament as champions of the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament, where the Trojans beat Washington 4-0 in the quarterfinals and Stanford 4-2 in the semifinals before posting a 4-0 win over Cal in the title match in Ojai. Ranked No. 8 in the nation, Peter Smith's 2019 Trojans secured USC's third consecutive 20-win season. Individually, eight Trojans hit double digits in the singles win column. Sophomore Daniel Cukierman leads the pack with 33 singles victories. Freshman Jake Sands is next in line with 20, followed closely by Brandon Holt with 19, thanks to a current 10-match win streak. Behind that trio in the singles win count are Jake DeVine (18), Tanner Smith (17), Laurens Verboven (15), Riley Smith (13) and Logan Smith (11). In the doubles realm, the hottest hands belonged to Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith, who just missed cracking the 20-win barrier with a 19-8 final mark together. Meanwhile, top guns Brandon Holt and Riley Smith are now 15-6 overall, and Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven gathered in a 12-6 record together to round out the Trojans' formidable doubles lineup.
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES
In the first-ever collegiate dual match to be played at a Grand Slam, No. 5 USC showed resilience under a warm Australian sun on its official 2019 opener, gutting out a 4-0 victory over No. 25 South Carolina on the courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne. The Trojans snagged a quick doubles point and looked in position for a swift string of singles wins until the Gamecocks dug in and forced three sets on four courts. USC was able to net straight-set wins from freshman Jake Sands and sophomore Daniel Cukierman before things got tangled, and then Laurens Verbovencame through with the clincher to wrap USC's memorable visit to Melbourne and get USC a 1-0 start to the 2019 campaign. The doubles point was a quick fix for the Trojans, who rattled off two swift victories to pocket a 1-0 lead. At the No. 1 spot, Brandon Holt and Riley Smith peeled out to a 6-1 win, putting Daniel Cukierman and Bradley Frye in position to snag the opening point. The sophomore-freshman duo locked in with a 6-2 victory on court three, and the Trojans were off to singles play with the 1-0 advantage in their court. In singles, USC claimed first sets down the line, but the Gamecocks fired back on four courts. At the No. 6 spot, however, USC freshman Jake Sands held firm and scored USC's first singles win of the day on a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Jake Beasley to make it 2-0 Trojans. Next, USC's #8 Daniel Cukierman sidestepped a third and closed out a 6-2, 7-5 win over South Carolina's Yancy Davis on court two, and USC was up 3-0 with four courts tangled up in third sets. On court one, Brandon Holt rebounded from dropping the first set in a tiebreaker against #7 Paul Jubb, and the top guns would continue to battle in the third while the finish line neared on other courts. Jack Jaede and Riley Smith were both in tight third sets on courts four and five, respectively, while #19 Laurens Verboven also was in lockstep with South Carolina's Daniel Rodrigues on court three. Finally, Verboven found the finishing touch, getting one last break to clinch the match on his 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win. That suspended the remaining matches, and sent USC home to Los Angeles with a key win to build momentum in the early goings of the 2019 season.
LAST SEASON
USC went 20-9 overall last year with a run to the NCAA Quarterfinals, finishing the 2018 season ranked No. 11 in the nation. For the first time since 1993, USC men's tennis landed multiple Trojan doubles pairs on the ITA All-America honor roll. It also was 25 years ago that USC last finished a season with more than three ITA All-Americans, as the Trojans boasted four honorees for 2018 in Brandon Holt, Riley Smith, Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven. All but Holt were first-time All-Americans, with Holt adding 2018 singles and doubles All-American honors to his 2017 singles pick from his freshman campaign. Holt and Smith finished 2018 ranked as the No. 9 doubles team in the nation to secure their doubles All-American status, while Jaede and Verboven snagged their first All-American honors as a 5-8 seed in the NCAA Doubles draw as well as a No. 10 final ranking. A three-time All-American, Brandon Holt secured his second singles selection as a 9-16 seed in his second appearance in the NCAA Singles draw. Holt also powered through to the NCAA Round of 16 in singles and in doubles with Smith.
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