Crystal receives Pac-12 Player of the Week honors


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Junior Nick Crystal was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday after recording two victories for the No. 8 men’s tennis team at ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Marks Stadium Friday and Saturday.

The Men of Troy defeated No. 57 UC Davis 7-0 on Friday and No. 37 Tulane 4-3 on Saturday in the championship match to earn a sweep and a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 12-15 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Crystal was a strong contributor to the successful weekend. The 41st-ranked singles player in the nation, he defeated No. 38 Alec Adamson on Friday with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 performance. That preceded a 6-1 doubles win along with Laurens Verboven over the Aggies’ Adamson and Adam Levie.

Crystal helped the Trojans earn a sweep and a spot in the championship match against the Green Waves on Saturday, where Crystal, a junior out of Waccabuc, New York recorded a clutch win over Tulane’s No. 63-ranked Constantin Schmitz to give USC a 3-2 lead in the match. After being shutout 0-6 in the first set, Crystal came back strong, winning the next two sets 7-5 and 6-2. The Trojans wound up with a gritty 4-3 victory over Tulane.

Crystal, in his third season at USC, also won a Pac-12 Player of the Week Award last year after another strong performance in the same tournament, winning two matches at the 2015 ITA Kick-Off Weekend. He went 10-5 in singles as a freshman and as a sophomore, earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors and was named to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships All-Tournament Team. The Trojans play Florida on Saturday in a Pac-12/SEC showdown at UCLA.