Women of Troy remain undefeated in Pac-12


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The No. 7 USC women’s tennis team battled through a tough weekend schedule that featured two top-10 Pac-12 rivals, Cal and Stanford. The Women of Troy came through untouched, however, managing to maintain their perfect conference record of 3-0. USC is 14-2 overall on the season.

“Taking down Cal and Stanford on consecutive days gives us a ton of confidence moving forward,” said associate head coach West Nott following the weekend’s matches. “You want to be playing your best tennis down the stretch and we are doing well there.”

USC seems to have the Golden Bears’ number, upsetting Cal, 4-3, for the second time already this season, with the first win coming with the same score in a nonconference match in Berkeley on Feb. 20.

USC was locked in a dead heat early on in the match, but finally prevailed to win the doubles point with an 8-6 win by the team of sophomore Zoë Katz and senior Sabrina Santamaria.

The determining match of the day was left to freshman Meredith Xepoleas, who was later named Pac-12 Player of the Week. After winning the first set 7-6(6), Xepoleas dropped the second set, 2-6. As the third set heated up, Xepoleas was greeted with resounding support from the Marks Stadium crowd. Finding her groove, Xepoleas took care of business with a convincing 6-3 victory that sealed the overall victory for the Women of Troy.

The following day USC dismantled No. 10 Stanford at home with a 6-1 victory over the Cardinal.

To win the doubles point, the Women of Troy fired off two straight wins, suspending the third match.

On the singles side of the action, a powerful freshman trio served up some major power for the Women of Troy, leading the way to the overall victory. Freshman Gabby Smith won eight straight games in her 6-0, 6-2 upset. Xepoleas cruised to a victory with the score of 6-0, 6-1, dropping only a single game. The final freshman for USC, Madison Westby, cranked out a 6-4, 6-2 win for the Women of Troy.

The rest of the match was not without drama as Santamaria pulled off a remarkable comeback playing from the No. 1 spot. Playing against nationally ranked No. 3 Carol Zhao, Santamaria lost the first set, 4-6. Digging herself a hole in the second set, Santamaria was down 1-5 before rallying to win the set 7-5. After forcing the tie breaker, Santamaria won 11-9.

USC’s No. 18 Guiliana Olmos then sealed the deal for the Women of Troy with her 7-5, 6-4 win.

“As far as being undefeated, we don’t really think about that, we just try to go 1-0 each match and control the things we can control,” Nott said in regard to the team’s expectations moving forward. “I think if you start thinking about results, that’s when you can get yourself into trouble and become complacent.”

USC is now riding a four-game winning streak and are 3-0 in conference play, having opened conference play with a 6-1 victory against Washington State in Pullman on March 15. The Women of Troy will continue prepping for their                   Pac-12 push as they hit the road next weekend. First, USC will play in Eugene against Oregon on Friday before continuing up north to face Washington in Seattle on Saturday.

“They truly are hungry and obsessed about the game, makes it a really fun experience,” Nott said.