Trojan tennis takes on ITA National Indoors

The biggest tournament of the fall season is just around the corner, and USC’s men’s and women’s tennis teams are looking to take a bite out of the Big Apple.

On Thursday, play kicks off at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in Flushing, New York, and six players will represent Troy.

On the women’s side, senior co-captain Zoë Scandalis and junior Giuliana Olmos will compete in the singles draw. Scandalis, who is ranked No. 15 in the ITA’s preseason singles rankings, will meet Houston’s No. 68 Despoina Vogasari in the first round, while 38th-ranked Olmos will clash with UNC’s 35th-ranked Caroline Price.

Scandalis punched her ticket to New York by taking home the singles crown at the ITA Southwest Regional Championship. The San Diego native looked dominant throughout, not dropping a single set. Last year, Scandalis went 23-11 overall and made a trip to the ITA National Indoors with Olmos to compete in doubles. The duo made it to the semifinals but fell in a tough three-setter.

Olmos will appear in both doubles and singles this year, after receiving an at-large berth for singles. Despite enjoying success with Scandalis in doubles last season (the duo went 22-8 and finished the season ranked No. 11 in the ITA poll), Olmos is now teaming up with freshman Gabby Smith. This pairing of youth and experience won the doubles title at the ITA Southwest Regionals to earn their spot at National Indoors.

Olmos said that despite it being Smith’s first collegiate season, the two are a great match.

“We have really good chemistry on the court, and that’s really important,” Olmos said. “We’re just getting used to playing aggressive and trying to take the net away from our opponents.”

Their win at the regional tournament earned the squad a first-round bye, but in the second round, they’ll face Texas A&M’s Ines Dehaza and Rachel Pierson.

The men’s team is also sending one doubles squad and two singles players to New York.

Senior Yannick Hanfmann, who made the trip the last two years, headlines the group this week. The Karlsruhe, Germany, native is ranked No. 2 in the nation and earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament, behind only Louisville’s Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, who beat Hanfmann in the finals of the ITA All-American Championships last month.

Last year, Hanfmann fell in the first round of ITA Indoors to Oklahoma’s Guillermo Alcorta, who he later beat in the Trojans’ victory over the Sooners in the NCAA Championship. This year, his first-round opponent is Ohio State’s Mikael Torpegaard, a freshman who earned a berth to the tournament by winning the ITA Midwest Regional championship. Torpegaard showed his ability to upset higher-ranked players, as he beat Illinois’ 6th-ranked Jared Hiltzik in the title match.

Hanfmann will need to overcome his persistent knee injuries and stay on his toes to make a run in the tournament.

He’ll also be pulling double duty, competing alongside senior Roberto Quiroz in the doubles draw. This international pairing (Quiroz hails from Guayaquil, Ecuador) has earned the No. 19 slot in the nation this preseason.

“Roberto hasn’t played a ton this fall, which I would have liked for him to have done,” said USC men’s tennis head coach Peter Smith.

Quiroz’s only action this season came at the ITA All-American tournament, where he and Hanfmann fell in the title match to the top-ranked team in the nation, Tennessee’s Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese.

The team will aim for similar success this week, as they face the winner of the matchup between Columbia’s Richard Pham and Mike Vermeer, and NC State’s Ian Dempster and Robbie Mudge after their first round bye.

Play kicks off in New York on Thursday morning and the tournament runs until Nov. 9.