USC wins Pac-12 title with victory over UCLA


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The No. 2 USC women’s tennis team defeated No. 5 UCLA 4-3 on Thursday afternoon in Marks Stadium to finish an undefeated season and capture the Pac-12 regular season championship. USC has now won at least a share of the title in three of the past four seasons.

The Women of Troy split the title in 2012 with Stanford before winning it outright in 2013. This also serves as USC’s second undefeated Pac-12 season in the past three years.

The match was not always in USC’s favor, however. UCLA jumped out to a 1-0 lead after clinching the doubles point.

On the singles side of the action, things did not immediately pick up for the Women of Troy. Nearly two hours of grueling action would take place without a single match finishing, and even that did not go in USC’s favor, as the No. 1 player in the country, Robin Anderson, defeated USC’s No. 19 Sabrina Santamaria by a score of 3-6, 6-0, 7-5. The action was followed by another USC loss, as freshman Gabby Smith fell to her opponent, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.  At this point in the match, USC was losing 0-3 and UCLA appeared to have a commanding lead.

The Women of Troy, however, had other plans.

Court three turned the tides for USC, as senior All-American Zoë Scandalis, ranked No. 61, dropped her opponent in the only two-set match of the day, 6-2, 7-6. The win for Scandalis came on the heels of her Tommy Award for Trojan Female Athlete of the Year.

The gap continued to close when freshman Meredith Xepoleas finished a come-from-behind win on court six by a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

From there, junior Guiliana Olmos tied it up with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

All eyes then turned to court four, where freshman Madison Westby and her UCLA counterpart Kyle McPhillips were duking it out. The match was close from the get go, with McPhillips taking the first set 7-5, followed by a Westby victory of 7-6 in the second set. Westby finally prevailed with a 6-4 win in the third set when McPhillips returned a shot long of the baseline.

The Women of Troy subsequently mobbed Westby and a celebration ensued. Unfortunately, in the mayhem the Pac-12 championship trophy was smashed, but not before the team was able to take photos capturing the moment.

Next up, the Women of Troy will prepare for their postseason run as they head to Ojai to compete in the Pac-12 tournament April 21 to 25.