Women’s tennis plays in Pac-12 individuals


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USC visited Ojai, California, from April 21 to April 26 to compete in the individual Pac-12 tournament, and they came back victorious, sweeping one of the two brackets.

Following their regular season Pac-12 team championship, the Women of Troy traveled to Ojai to battle for the individual singles and doubles championships. Due to the fact that only a certain number of players are able to compete for the singles and doubles championships, the other players participate in the invitational side of the bracket.

This is where USC found its success this year. For the fourth-straight year, USC captured the invitational singles title. This year, freshman Meredith Xepoleas demolished the competition en route to the title. She followed in the footsteps of current teammate junior Giuliana Olmos who won the title last year.

The championship match was Xepoleas’ 17th consecutive singles match victory as well as her fifth-straight set win of the tournament. The freshman was seeded No. 2 in the tournament, and it showed in her dismemberment of the field. In round 32, Xepoleas faced her most difficult match, a mere 6-3, 6-4. In each of her next two matches, she dropped only two games a piece, which was followed up by 6-2, 6-2 semifinal win.

Xepoleas would face UCLA’s Terri Fleming in the final on Sunday morning, and she crushed the Bruin 6-2, 6-3.

In the doubles invitational draw, the duo of senior Gabriella DeSimone and sophomore Zoë Katz delivered a similar beating to the field. In their first three matches, the pair lost no more than two games a match making their championship margin of 8-4 their toughest match of the tournament.

The team was in control of the final for a majority of the match and did not let Washington’s team get back into the fight.

USC’s hopes for a Pac-12 title were dashed in the semifinals and quarterfinals of singles and doubles, respectively.

For the Women of Troy, No. 14 Olmos was sent home Saturday by No. 25 Karla Fabikova of Cal in a 6-1, 6-2 match, and No. 45 Zoë Scandalis could not finish her match against UCLA’s Catherine Harrison. She had to retire due to an injury.  Harrison not only took out two Trojans, but also was the Pac-12 singles champion.

The other Women of Troy competing for the singles title were No. 21 Sabrina Santamaria who lost 6-2, 6-4 to the same Harrison that dispatched Scandalis in round 16. One day earlier, No. 55 Madison Westby lost to unranked Donika Bashota of Washington State in the first round by a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

The doubles teams for USC faced similar troubles. The freshman tandem of Gabby Smith and Westby was ousted 8-5 in round 16 by the Arizona team of Austin and Preston. The other doubles team, No. 20-ranked Olmos and Scandalis, was tripped up by the No. 2 team in the nation, and eventual Pac-12 champions, Davidson and Zhao of Stanford by a score of 8-3.