No. 20 USC Women's Tennis Defeats Wisconsin 4-3 During ITA Kickoff Weekend

Friday, January 23

Charlottesville, Va.

4 PM PT

USC

Wisconsin

Krisha pumps her fist after winning a point on court

Photo by: John McGillen/USC Athletics

No. 20 USC Women's Tennis Defeats Wisconsin 4-3 During ITA Kickoff Weekend

January 23, 2026 | Women's Tennis

Results

USC's trio of freshmen win three straight singles matches to secure the victory.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - No. 20 USC women's tennis emerged victorious on Friday night, beating Wisconsin 4-3 in a tightly contested battle during the opening round of ITA Kickoff Weekend.

The Trojans, powered by a trio of freshmen, erased a three point deficit to storm back and beat the Badgers to advance to tomorrow's championship match against No. 12 Virginia at 9 a.m. PT. A trip to the upcoming ITA National Team Indoor Championships is on the line for both programs.

The Badgers opened the match strongly in doubles play, as No. 5 Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova delivered a 6-0 win over No. 6 Lily Fairclough and Dani Borruel. Wisconsin's Kaede Usui and Tianna Rangan followed with a 6-3 victory over Immi Haddad and Emma Charney on court three to clinch the doubles point for the Badgers.

Moving into singles play, Wisconsin would strike first, claiming the match on court two as Ekaterina Ivanova beat USC's No. 12 ranked Emma Charney 6-2, 6-0. All-American Lily Fairclough made her spring singles debut on Friday evening, beating Usui 6-3, 6-1 to put the Trojans on the board. The Badgers responded once again as No. 47 ranked Mario Sholokhova defeated No. 16 Jana Hossam 7-5, 6-1 on center court. USC trailed 3-1, but a trio of Trojan freshmen would erase the deficit to take match.

No. 62 ranked Eugenia Zozaya was first to score, beating Lucie Urbanova 6-7 (10-12), 6-3, 6-3 on court four, extending her win streak to five straight singles matches. Next up, freshman Dani Borruel picked up her first dual match singles victory, downing Kaja Jacobson 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on court six to even the score. No. 74 ranked Krisha Mahendran delivered her third clinch of the season as the freshman beat Tianna Rangan 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) on court three to win the match for the Trojans.

The two programs battled for nearly four hours on Friday evening, with the match being clinched at nearly 11 p.m. ET. USC's 5-0 start to the season is a program best since 2022.