USC carries winning streak into Arizona
A streaking USC women’s tennis team heads east to Tucson, Arizona, today to face No. 41 Arizona before taking on No. 23 Arizona State in Tempe on Saturday.
The Women of Troy remain atop both the Pac-12 and national rankings. They have racked up six consecutive victories — tying a season-high — by a combined score of 36-6, including big conference wins against No. 3 California and No. 10 Stanford. USC’s overall record is now an impressive 16-2, and the team is undefeated in all five of its conference games.
Despite the team’s great form, associate head coach West Nott believes that the players are still “building up to their best tennis” as the season progresses, a sentiment shared by junior Giuliana Olmos.
“Our freshmen are getting more experience, everyone is starting to play better, and as time goes on, we’ll be working on our weaknesses and different parts of our game,” Olmos said. “There’s definitely always room for improvement.”
Arizona will aim for an upset today against the Women of Troy to get its season back on track. After a blistering 13-1 start, a 1-6 loss to Cal last Friday snapped the Wildcats’ nine-game winning streak. Another 1-6 loss to Stanford the day after handed them their first consecutive losses of the season. Arizona’s only other loss of the spring came at the hands of San Diego State, an opponent that USC shut out handily, 7-0, earlier last month.
In the same fixture last year, the Women of Troy hosted the Wildcats and chalked up a 4-0 victory. Since they will be on the road this time around, however, the players are prepping for some possibly unfamiliar conditions.
“We play in a high altitude [in Tucson], so the ball travels a little faster,” Nott said. “So we just want to be ready to play more aggressive tennis if we need to.”
USC’s great season so far is also reflected in the individual ITA rankings, as the Women of Troy continue to be ranked among the best in the nation. Olmos is ranked at a career high No. 11, while senior All-Americans Sabrina Santamaria and Zoë Scandalis are at No. 20 and No. 49, respectively. The remaining ranked Women of Troy are three talented freshmen. Meredith Xepoleas and Gabby Smith are ranked No. 64 and No. 65, and Madison Westby is No. 73. USC also has three ranked pairs, led by the No. 15 combination of Olmos and Scandalis. Sophomore Zoë Katz and Santamaria are just behind them at No. 19, and Katz’s partnership with senior Gabriella DeSimone is ranked at No. 30.
Nearing the end of such a successful season, it is easy for players and coaches alike to begin looking toward the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments a little prematurely. This USC squad, however, is experiencing no such problems.
“We just take it one game at a time and try to do the best we can with each practice,” Nott said. “Things just naturally fall into place. I think when you have the right people with the right qualities and talent, things have a way of working themselves out.”
Nott also praised the team’s determination and level-headedness throughout the season, as the players kept their composure and continued to put in maximum effort after both wins and losses.
“What makes this team really good is that they don’t get too down and they don’t get too high,” Nott said. “They just work hard every day and have a great attitude.”
The Women of Troy begin their clash against Arizona at 1:30 p.m. today, and their match against Arizona State is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start on Saturday. The Sun Devils are also coming off back-to-back losses, but they will host UCLA before facing USC.
After wrapping up their road trip, head coach Richard Gallien and the team will finally return to Marks Stadium for their first home match in almost three weeks next Friday against Utah.