The USC men’s tennis team is gearing up for its season with a full docket of invitational tournaments on deck. After reaching the final 16 in last season’s NCAA tournament and bringing back multiple ranked players this season, expectations are high for the Trojans. Their journey begins at the Longhorn Invitational Tournament Sept. 22 to 24.

Despite the season not officially starting until January, there are a share of tournaments the Trojans will participate in this fall. The Texas Hidden Dual kicks those off this weekend, and will allow USC its first opportunity to compete as a full team. It will feature singles and doubles match opportunities against the opposing teams in the group stage.

The University of Texas is hosting the tournament. The Trojans will face tough competition in Austin, with other perennial powers in the sport competing, like Georgia and Arizona.

Last year’s Trojans went 21-8 overall, including a 6-2 conference record and a flawless 11-0 at home at Marks Stadium. USC won the Pac-12 tournament and its first two rounds in the NCAA tournament. The Trojans fell short in the Super Regionals, the final 16 nationally, losing a tight 4-3 battle to Michigan.

The team this season is headlined by two nationally ranked players, Peter Makk and Wojtek Marek, both entering their junior season. Makk was ranked 22nd and Marek came in at number 63 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s preseason Top 125. Makk went 27-13 overall in singles last season, playing primarily the number 2 and number 3 positions on the team. Marek went 27-11 overall with most of his time coming at the number 3 and number 4 positions.

Head Coach Brett Masi is entering his fifth season as head coach at USC. Masi has won four consecutive Pac-12 championships and has led the Trojans to an 80-22 record during his time at the helm. Masi is looking forward to the upcoming slate of tournaments.

“We want to be able to do a lot of just development throughout the entire fall … whether it is working on a certain stroke or working on different strategies or serve technique or stuff like that,” Masi said. “We’re able to spend a lot more time on that because we don’t play every day like we do come January.”

That all starts for the Trojans in Austin this weekend, where Masi is looking for cohesiveness, in addition to competitiveness.

As USC gears up for the season, they hope to win a fifth consecutive — and final — Pac-12 championship. The Trojans are set to depart the conference next season, along with a host of other schools. The historical presence of the Pac-12 is felt in men’s tennis like none other. USC, Stanford and UCLA hold an astonishing 21, 17 and 16 national championships respectively.

They will be joining the Big Ten conference next year, which presents many new challenges in terms of opponents and travel logistics. Masi is excited for the opportunity that the new conference will have for his team.

“We’re up for the challenge and ready for it,” Masi said. “[We’re] ready to hopefully continue winning conference championships.”

There is a long road ahead for this season’s USC men’s tennis team. They have their eyes set on a deep run nationally this season, not just in conference. Masi fully understands and embraces all the expectations that come with leading the Trojans.

“We’ve been successful in winning Pac-12 titles the last four years,” Masi said. “We have fallen short a little bit on the national stage. This year, hopefully we can put those pieces in place to be successful.”

The Trojans begin their individual season at the Texas Hidden Dual as they take on Texas from Friday to Sunday.