No. 4 Trojans have strong showing in tournament


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The No. 4 USC men’s tennis team earned third place at the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle at Indian Wells, California, and routed crosstown rival No. 14 UCLA at Marks Stadium.

After defeating the Bruins 4-1 on March 14, the Trojans opened the Collegiate Challenge on March 20 with a redeeming 4-0 sweep of No. 20 Tulsa — the Golden Hurricane handed the then-No. 1 Trojans a 4-3 upset loss earlier in the season — but dropped a 4-3 nailbiter to the No. 3 Baylor Bears in the semifinal round the next day. USC claimed third in the Collegiate Challenge after a 4-0 victory over No. 29 Columbia on March 22 in the third-place game.

Saturday’s matchup between the Trojans and the Bears went the distance, coming down to the final game. In doubles, senior Trojan duo Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz took down the Bears’ Tony Lupieri and Mate Zsiga 6-4, while sophomore Nick Crystal and freshman Thibault Forget fell 6-3 to the Baylor pair of Felipe Rios and Vince Schneider. The Bears narrowly came away with the doubles point, as Baylor’s Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz eked out a win over junior Max de Vroome and senior Eric Johnson 7-6 in the third game of doubles play.

“We had a match point at one point in doubles,” head coach Peter Smith said. “With the scoring system how it is, your window of opportunity is usually small but it’s there. We didn’t get it [Saturday], but I think that’ll really drive us the next time we play [Baylor]. Of course we want to win it, but I think what’s more important is just competing in that situation, because you’re better for it.”

Initially down 1-0, following Crystal’s loss to Baylor’s Rios, the Trojans clawed back on terms 3-3 with the Bears in singles. USC’s No. 20 Quiroz fought his way to a two set win over No. 39 Lupieri on court two, fellow senior Johnson followed suit with a win over Max Tchoutakian on court three. Senior Jonny Wang brought the Trojans ahead 3-2 with his win over Baylor’s Schneider. In the final match of the tug-of-war between the two sides, however, the Trojans’ Hanfmann (ranked No. 8 nationally) couldn’t hang on against the Bears’ Lenz (ranked No. 4 nationally) who handed the Bears a 4-3 victory with his 6-2, 7-5 win.

In Sunday’s contest against Columbia, the Trojans never lost the lead. Doubles competition witnessed the USC tandems of Johnson-de Vroome and Hanfmann-Quiroz win their games 6-4 and 7-5, respectively, to put the Trojans ahead 1-0.

“We went out [Sunday] and took care of business,” Smith said. “We played with a good sense of urgency. We knew it was kind of a strap match for us, and we walked out there ready to go.”

In singles, the defending NCAA champion Trojans wasted no time in closing out the match. Johnson posted a near-immaculate showing with a 6-0, 6-1 win at the start of singles play to make the USC advantage 2-0. Hanfmann soon followed suit, claiming a 6-2, 6-1 victory and pushing the lead to 3-0. De Vroome delivered the knockout blow, winning 7-6, 6-4 to complete the 4-0 sweep and clinch third place in the tournament for the Trojans. With the majority of the seven points already in the bag for the Trojans, Crystal, Quiroz and Wang’s matches were abandoned from play.

Following the third-place finish, the Trojans are 15-3 overall. With the Pac-12 Championships a month away, the Trojans will host Washington and Oregon this upcoming weekend.

“We’re excited to be home,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t say we’re that familiar with our upcoming opponents, but we’re excited to be home and taking care of our training and our course.”