USC looks for fourth consecutive win against UCLA


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USC’s No. 2 men’s tennis team (12-1) is looking to beat the Bruins on Friday, as it hosts No. 3 UCLA (9-1) in a nonconference match at Marks Stadium. The match, which is set to start at 3 p.m., will mark the second time the teams face each other in a week, after having clashed at the ITA National Team Indoor championships in Seattle, Wash., on Sunday.

Clutch · Sophomore Roberto Quiroz helped the Trojans defeat the Bruins last week, taking the game-clinching match against UCLA’s Adrien Puget. - Ralf Cheung | Daily Trojan

Clutch · Sophomore Roberto Quiroz helped the Trojans defeat the Bruins last week, taking the game-clinching match against UCLA’s Adrien Puget. — Ralf Cheung | Daily Trojan

 

In that matchup, the Trojans pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind victory and handed UCLA its first loss of the season. After USC gave up the doubles point, they fought back in singles play to tie the score at 3-3. Sophomore Roberto Quiroz clinched the 4-3 victory for USC in a third-set tiebreaker over UCLA’s Adrien Puget.

Though Quiroz received praise for his clutch performance, USC head coach Peter Smith was also impressed with the play of sophomore Eric Johnson and freshman Max de Vroome.

“Eric and Max showed me, the rest of the country … that they’ve got what it takes to win,” Smith said.

No. 46 Johnson and No. 109 de Vroome are just two of USC’s eight ranked singles players, the highest being No. 10 junior Emilio Gomez. In addition, USC has two ranked doubles teams, the highest of which comprises junior Ray Sarmiento and sophomore Yannick Hanfmann, who was just named Pac-12 player of the week due to his dominant play in the tournament.

Meanwhile, UCLA’s roster features four ranked singles players, the highest being No. 13 sophomore Marcos Giron. The Bruins do not have a ranked doubles team. Though the Trojans appear to have the advantage on paper, recent matches between teams have proven to be quite unpredictable.

Early last season, the top-ranked Trojans trounced No. 3 UCLA in Westwood, 6-1. Not two months later, the Bruins shocked USC by pulling off a 4-3 upset and ending the Trojans’ 45-match winning streak that spanned over a year. The Trojans bounced back, though, and defeated UCLA 4-2 a week later to take home the Pac-12 tournament, before beating them one more time in the semifinals of the NCAA championship tournament.

Though the Trojans trail the Bruins 100-88 all-time, Sarmiento is thankful that the team has been victorious in the past three match-ups and hopes that the streak will continue Friday.

“We love battling against UCLA and it’s nice to know the [win] has been on our side the last couple times,” Sarmiento said. “We just have to keep taking care of our own business.”

The team also hopes that today’s match against the Bruins will not be as close as Sunday’s was. Though Smith and his players agree that earning the doubles point is the first step toward securing the victory, they have different opinions on how to achieve that goal.

“We have to come out of the starting blocks strong and with a lot of energy,” sophomore Jonny Wang said.

Smith takes a more relaxed approach to securing the doubles point.

“We’re too pumped up,” Smith said. “The guys are always ready to play … it’s getting [the team] calm that’s the hard part.”