Men’s tennis wins three of four in Napa Valley Challenge

The beginning of the individual season started off a bit rougher than last season ended, but the USC men’s tennis team made strides as the weekend progressed.

The Trojans participated in the Land Rover Napa Valley Tennis Classic at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, Calif.

Four USC players made the trip to participate in the 32-man draw, which consisted of 24 collegiate and eight USTA junior players.

The Trojans finished off the weekend with three of four victories. Senior Jaak Poldma defeated Texas’ David Holiner 7-6 (3), 6-4. Freshman JT Sundling beat USTA junior MacKenzie McDonald in a three-set match. Daniel Nguyen won by default over Florida junior Nassim Slilam.

Freshman Ray Sarmiento lost to Kentucky’s Eric Quigley in three sets.

The Trojans showed improvements Saturday as Sundling defeated Kentucky’s Maks Gold 6-0, 6-2, and Poldma lost in a close third set tiebreak to Florida’s Sekou Bangoura.

In the first day of competition, Sarmiento — in his first match as a Trojan — suffered a narrow defeat to conference foe, sophomore Carlos Cueto of California, who won 7-6(6), 7-6(4).

“We were rusty the first day, not super sharp,” said associate head coach George Husack on Friday’s opening matches.

Husack said the junior players seemed to be in better form throughout the weekend because many have been actively playing in tournaments over the summer, while collegiate players had a less strenuous summer following the NCAA tournament.

“Not at the level that the team needs to be at,” Husack said of the team’s performances following the first two days of the tournament. “We can improve focus and execution on the court. This serves us notice; we will get back at work and get better.”

Husack mentioned another factor that might have led to some early struggles, saying that their opponents went into the matches with some extra motivation to play the reigning NCAA champions.

Still, as the season commences, optimism is apparent as the team is beginning to take shape.

“We have a really exciting team this year,” Husack said. “I am excited to see how the team performs over the course of the season.”

Players echoed the sentiments that they did not start off the weekend as expected, but said they felt good about getting back to competitive play on the courts.

“Rough start on the first day, but we have been playing better,” Poldma said. “It’s been a good way to get back to playing tournaments and matches, and see where we need to improve.”

Although the tournament ended without any Trojans advancing from round-robin play, the experience is only the beginning of the long road to the NCAA tournament in May.

“Expectation-wise, you always want to perform well, but the results will not dictate how well we do at the NCAA’s,” Husack said.