No. 7 USC Men's Tennis Primed for its 2024 Dual Opener Versus the Anteaters

LOS ANGELES - Due to rain in the projected forecast, No. 7 USC men's tennis will kick off the dual portion of the 2024 season a day earlier than expected as it faces UC Irvine, starting at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 19 at Marks Stadium. The originally scheduled second leg of the doubleheader featuring UNLV is postponed until further notice.

RANKINGS
The Trojans enter this weekend as the No. 7 ranked team in the country (ITA Coaches Poll, Jan. 17). USC currently hosts three ranked individuals and one ranked doubles squad in the most recent individual rankings (Nov. 15, 2023). Junior Peter Makk is the highest-ranking individual, ranked No. 39 after an 8-5 fall season. Sitting behind him is No. 73 senior Lodewijk Weststrate. The last player with an individual ranking is No. 94 junior Karl Lee. Lee boasts the best record in the fall at 13-4, as he put together two championship appearances in various fall tournaments.

The Trojans have one ranked doubles squad with the combination of graduate students Samuel Rubell and Niroop Vallabhaneni at No. 47. The duo is 4-0 together and won the SoCal Intercollegiate on their home courts.

NEW ADDITIONS
USC welcomed two mid-season additions with the arrival of freshman Volodymyr Iakubenko (Kiev, Ukraine) and sophomore Oscar Weightman (London, England).

The Ukrainian heads into the season with one junior singles title and had a finals appearance in May of 2023 at the J300 Santa Croce Sull'Arno in Italy. Iakubenko hit his highest ranking in the junior circuit in May as he progressed to the No. 52 ranking in the ITF Junior rankings. Overall, the incoming freshman finished his junior career with an overall record of 96-63 in singles and a 67-38 record in doubles.

Weightman also comes into the picture with a plethora of experience on the international circuit. The Brit currently ranks 1130 in the ATP singles world rankings but peaked at 603 in August 2022. Weightman earned the 69th overall ITF singles ranking in April 2022.

LAST SEASON
During the 2023 season, USC recorded an overall record of 21-8, going 6-2 in conference play and earning a share of the Pac-12 regular season title. The Trojans continued to follow a similar path of success that they have had for years, as they claimed their fourth-straight Pac-12 tournament title. In the NCAA tournament, USC made its way to the NCAA Super Regionals, as it hosted Idaho and San Diego in the first two rounds. The Trojans dominated both squads, winning 4-0 vs Idaho and 4-1 against USD.

SCOUTING UC IRVINE
The Anteaters will compete in their second dual this season, as they bested Westcliff University 7-0 on Jan. 18. UCI currently has yet to rank in the ITA rankings and has no individuals ranked ahead of its matchup with USC.

WATCH THE TROJANS
All matches at Marks Stadium can be viewed through PlaySight. Please visit USCTrojans.com/mtennis to watch live streams of the matches and view live scoring. Follow @USCMensTennis on Instagram and X for score updates.

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Players Mentioned

Volodymyr Iakubenko

Karl Lee

Peter Makk

Samuel Rubell

Niroop Vallabhaneni

Oscar Weightman

Lodewijk Weststrate