Men’s and women’s tennis teams see varied success at ITA Kick-off


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Sophomore Brandon Frye played a crucial role in helping the Trojans defeat UNCW over the weekend. (Ling Luo | Daily Trojan)

Both the USC men’s and women’s tennis teams finished the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kick-off Weekend strong this weekend at their respective tournaments.

The No. 3 men’s team booked its ticket to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the 12th straight year following a dominant performance at Marks Stadium over the weekend. On the other side, the No. 11 women’s team saw an encouraging weekend with a victory over Kentucky on day one of the tournament and a narrow loss to Princeton on day two. 

USC’s lineup included No. 1 ranked junior Daniel Cukierman, freshmen Stefan Dostanic and Ryder Jackson, sophomores No. 9 Mor Bulis and Bradley Frye and senior Riley Smith. The Trojans faced off against UNC Wilmington and Santa Clara University over the course of the two-day tournament.

USC started fast on day one. Cukierman and Smith captured a speedy 6-1 win over UNCW’s No. 36 pair of sophomore Bruno Caula and senior Daniel Groom. 

Meanwhile, on court three, Dostanic and Frye clinched USC’s first point with a 6-2 victory over Seahawks sophomores Dillon Gooch and Cole Groetsch.

In singles play, Jackson gave USC its second point of the day with a 6-3, 6-0 win over sophomore Davide Innocenti. The Trojans continued their dominant performance with two more wins from Frye, who cruised past UNCW senior Michael Copeland. Cukierman defeated redshirt senior Austin Hussey to seal the 4-0 sweep for day one’s action.

USC continued its hot start on day two with doubles duo Dostanic and Frye sweeping their opponents 6-0 to kick things off. Bulis and Jackson followed them up by securing another doubles victory to put USC ahead of Santa Clara 1-0. 

Frye continued his hot streak to give USC a 2-0 advantage in the first singles match. Bulis and Cukierman carried that momentum into their last matches of the day to cap things off quickly with two-set victories.

Head coach Brett Masi gave high praise to his players following Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Santa Clara.

“Bradley Frye had an excellent weekend,” Masi said. “His energy and presence on the court were affecting the whole team and I think that’s important when you play dual match … your positivity and energy among the team.” 

Masi also expressed his higher expectations for the team in upcoming matches.

“We’re playing against Stanford and Cal next weekend on the road — [we] know [our] level [of play] this weekend isn’t going to be good enough for that,” he said. “Next week we are going to focus on the small things and make some improvements.” 

The women’s side opened its ITA Kick-off Weekend with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Kentucky. Two doubles pairs got their job done by securing USC’s first point of the day to open play Saturday. 

Kentucky fought back in singles matches, leading 2-1 before USC senior captain Angela Kulikov notched her first singles win of the season to level things up 2-2. 

USC then took two out of the last three matches to secure a 4-3 win over the Wildcats on the first day. 

On Sunday, however, the Trojans lost their first dual match of the season, falling to Princeton 4-3 to finish off the weekend.

The USC men’s team will head to the Bay Area to play Stanford and Cal this weekend, while the women’s team will face St. Mary’s, UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State in Los Angeles beginning Friday.