Trojans look to continue dominance over Arizona

As dominant as the USC men’s tennis team has been lately, its all-time 92-2 record against Arizona is even more impressive.

The Trojans (18-2, 4-0) will look to build on their 11-match winning streak and continue their dominance over Arizona in Saturday’s Pac-10 match.

Coming off dominant back-to-back 7-0 victories against Oregon and Washington, No. 2 USC welcomes No. 55 Arizona to Marks Stadium. The Wildcats (8-11, 0-4) are coming off losses to California and Stanford.

The last time Arizona beat USC was in 2006, when it defended home court with a narrow 4-3 victory.

With only three more matches scheduled before the Pac-10 championships and NCAA tournament, the Trojans understand they need the right mindset going into today’s match.

“We’ve got to have the right attitude, not overlooking [Arizona] or thinking it’s going to be easy,” said senior captain Jaak Poldma.

Although it might be easy to look past Arizona and its record, the Wildcats boast an experienced squad that features seniors Andres Carrasco, Geoff Embry, Jay Goldman and Borja Malo.

The Trojans, however, counter with Poldma and juniors Steve Johnson and Daniel Nguyen. Along with these upperclassmen, USC’s freshmen have played pivotal roles in the team’s success this season.

“It’s been a good year so far,” Poldma said. “A lot of guys, freshmen, have stepped up and matured and taken over roles.”

With an undeniable bevy of talent in Johnson, Poldma and freshman Ray Sarmiento, who has won all of his singles matches when he was not injured, USC looks primed to make another late postseason run.

“Everything that is most important is still in the way,” Poldma said. “It doesn’t really matter how you play in the season until the NCAAs.”

First serve is at 12 p.m. Saturday.