Men’s tennis pulls off impressive wins

The USC men’s tennis team played in the Battle in the Bay Classic and the Milwaukee Tennis Classic last weekend, picking up some impressive victories along the way. 

Junior Brandon Holt hoisted both the singles and doubles trophies in San Francisco, and sophomore Mor Bulis took home the singles crown in Milwaukee.

Following last weekend’s tournaments, head coach Brett Masi said he was pleased with the team’s showing at both events.

“Everything was positive in terms of seeing what the other guys did who didn’t win at Milwaukee — they had good tournaments, they had good runs, they beat some good players,” Masi said.  

After making it past the Round of 16 in the Battle in the Bay, Holt defeated TCU freshman Jacob Fearnley in two sets at Saturday’s quarterfinal by a score of 7-5, 6-4. He then advanced to the semifinal on Sunday where he squared off against fellow Trojan and senior Riley Smith.

The Battle of Troy was a close one. Holt won the first set 6-4, but the second set went to Smith by the same score. In the final set of the match, Holt had the upper hand with an excellent 6-1 victory, advancing to Sunday’s championship match. 

He defeated No. 2 seed  Michigan freshman Ondrej Styler handily 6-2, 6-4.

Over 2,000 miles east of Holt’s championship run, sophomores Mor Bulis, Jake Sands and Bradley Frye represented the Trojans in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic.

Bulis caught fire in the tournament. Following Friday’s Round of 64 victory, Bulis won both of his matches Saturday to advance to Sunday’s quarterfinal. He battled No. 2-seeded senior Giovanni Oradini from Mississippi State and took a commanding win 6-2, 6-4. In a much closer semifinal, Bulis outlasted UNLV senior Alex Kobelt 7-6 (1), 7-5.

On Monday, Bulis earned the Milwaukee Tennis Classic singles crown by defeating Notre Dame junior Richard Ciamarra 6-3, 6-2.

Sands and Frye enjoyed wins in the singles Rounds of 64 and 32; however, both were ultimately defeated in the Round of 16. Sands fell at the hands of California junior Jack Molloy 6-2, 6-3, while Frye received a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 loss from No. 5 sophomore Paul Baretto, also of Cal. 

Bulis and Frye partnered up for the doubles tournament but were stopped short of victory in the Round of 16.

Back in the Bay, USC fared well in the doubles portion of the tournament. Holt and freshman Stefan Dostanic represented the Trojans alongside senior Riley Smith and freshman Ryder Jackson.

The two teams faced off during Sunday’s championship after both won tiebreaker sets to advance from the semifinals. In the end, Holt and Dostanic bested Smith and Jackson 8-2.

Among those to fall short in their respective tournaments were the two freshmen, Dostanic and Jackson.

In the singles Round of 32, Dostanic and Jackson won their respective matches and advanced to the Round of 16. It was in this round, however, that their tournament ended.

Dostanic lost his match 7-6 (4) to Stanford sophomore Sangreet Sridhar after a close tiebreaker, while Jackson lost his final set to Cal sophomore Yuta Kikuchi with a 6-4 score.

Despite the defeats, Masi spoke highly of their performances. 

“The freshmen just beat two boys who are No. 1 on their teams,” he said. “That’s pretty solid to show that two freshmen coming in here in their first tournament can go and do that.”

Masi’s faith in this talented men’s team is certainly no surprise after such a successful weekend. The freshmen’s play during the tournament showed their coach just how much potential this year’s team has. However, he says there is still work to be done. 

“There’s still a lot of things we can do better,” Masi said. “We’ll do that after we look back at this weekend and see what we can improve on.”

The Trojans look to maintain their strong start to the season with the Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu beginning Sept. 26.