Trojans continue early season success


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After sailing through the ITA Kick-off Weekend at home with 4-0 wins against both Louisiana and Santa Clara, the USC men’s tennis squad returned to the courts in Athens, Georgia for the Pac-12/SEC Showdown.  The Trojans faced off against the No. 17 Florida Gators on Saturday.

The Trojans began their match against the ranked Gators with a hard fought 2-0 victory for the doubles point.  Junior Max de Vroome and senior Eric Johnson paired up and took down Gators Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin by a score of 6-4.  Then, seniors Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz clinched the doubles point for the Trojans, outlasting Florida’s Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson in a close 7-6 (5) win.  Oliver Landert and Joshua Wardell from Florida were up 6-5 on sophomores Nick Crystal and Connor Farren before play was suspended.

In the singles matches, the Trojans continued to have the upper hand despite tough competition from Florida.  Quiroz earned the first singles point for the Trojans and finished off Orkin in two sets with a score of 6-2, 7-5.  Hanfmann lost his first set 5-7 to Lipman, but put the Trojans up 2-0 in singles play with a strong comeback and won 6-4 and 6-1 in the second and third sets.

It wasn’t long until the Gators came storming back to knot the singles score at two points apiece.  Senior Jonny Wang dominated his first set against Hidalgo, winning 6-0, but Hidalgo created problems for Wang in the next two sets.  Hidalgo edged Wang in the second set 7-6 (2) before controlling the decisive third set, winning 6-3 and giving the Gators their first singles win of the match.  The Gators tied the singles score soon after when Watson beat Johnson in a closely contested three set match.  Like Wang, Johnson took victory in the opening set, winning 6-4 over Watson.  The next two sets would need a tiebreaker to determine the winner of the set.  In both sets, Watson bested Johnson   ([7-6 (3) in the second set and 7-6 (4) in the third set]) and brought the Gators to within one point of the Trojans in overall play.

Despite the two straight wins by the Gators, the Trojans would clinch the match a short time later when Crystal took down Landert in two sets with a score of 6-2, 7-5.  Sophomore Rob Bellamy capped off the day for the Trojans with a three-set victory over Jordan Belga, giving the Trojans a 5-2 victory.  With the win, the Trojans moved to 4-0 overall on the season.

USC men’s tennis coach Peter Smith was proud of how his team was able to handle the challenge of facing a tough Gators squad.

“The conditions were fast and Florida fought really well,”  Smith said.  “Florida was a big step ahead for us in competition.  Good for us to get these matches under our belt.”

Smith also noted that the game was a positive transition for his team.

“Today was a day of getting used to this level and people in new positions,” Smith said.  “We are here to get better and we took a step in that direction.”

Next week, the Trojans will return home to take on the UC Irvine Anteaters and the San Diego State Aztecs in a Saturday back-to-back matchup.  These two matches will be the final matches for the Trojans before the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

UC Irvine is 2-5 on the season and has lost its last three matches, including a 4-0 loss to UCLA back on Jan. 21.  Both of UC Irvine’s wins came on the road against the Arizona Wildcats.  In their losses, the Anteaters have never won more than two matches against their opponent.

The San Diego State Aztecs have started the season strong.  They dominated their season opening, back-to-back matchups against the UC Riverside (won 7-0) and UC San Diego (won 6-1).  The Aztecs fell to Utah State on the road 3-4, but got back in the win column five days later with a 4-3 victory over Cal Poly.