USC Trojans receive Pac-10 tennis players of the week honors


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The USC men and women’s tennis teams dominated the competition last week, culminating in the recognition of two players as Pac-10 Players of the Week.

Junior Maria Sanchez received the Pac-10 Women’s Tennis Player of the Week honor for the second time in her career and sophomore Daniel Nguyen was named the Pac-10 Men’s Tennis Player of the Week for the first time.

Sanchez finished last week with two wins, including an upset over California Berkeley’s Jana Juricova. Juricova, a sophomore, became Berkeley’s first ITA National Indoor Championship singles champion on November 8.

Sanchez defeated Juricova with a decisive 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory, and her overall record improved to 16-5 in singles matches. She also has a record of 8-1 in dual-match singles play this season. Sanchez is currently ranked number 3 in the nation in singles, and was considered the top California recruit after her senior year of high school.

Nguyen received Player of the Week honors after winning a crucial match against Matt Kandath of 14th ranked Stanford to give USC to an early lead against the Cardinal. His overall singles record is currently 20-5 and by defeating Kandath 6-2, 6-1, Nguyen set the stage for his later win in doubles.

Teamed with partner Steve Johnson, Nguyen helped win the match 9-8 against Stanford’s No. 23 doubles pair of Richard Wire and Alex Clayton. Though Nguyen and Johnson are unranked, they currently have a 4-0 record as a doubles pair.

The USC women’s tennis team will play at Oregon on Friday, while the men’s tennis team will resume play on March 10 at Wake Forest.