Just five matches into the spring season, USC men’s tennis has already seen it all.

After opening their 2026 slate with back-to-back sweeps, the No. 21 Trojans (3-2) got a taste of their own medicine against the No. 8 University of San Diego (3-1) on Jan. 18, dropping the first four points to clinch a loss before salvaging two singles matches for a 5-2 final score.

With the highs and lows of college tennis fresh in their minds, Head Coach Brett Masi and company traveled to Berkeley for ITA Kickoff Weekend, where a spot at the National Team Indoor Championships was on the line. While USC failed to claim said spot, losing its first match of the event to No. 12 UCF (6-0), the Trojans rebounded with a statement win over No. 15 UC Berkeley (4-2).

Knights knock out Trojans

Friday morning’s matchup with the Knights got off to a promising start: Freshman Max Exsted and sophomore Nathan Trouve opened the doubles round with a 6-4 victory over UCF senior Luca Hotze and sophomore Nicolas Oliveira, putting USC one win away from clinching the coveted doubles point.

However, after sophomore Connor Church and freshman Branko Djuric fell 6-2, all eyes were on junior Andrin Casanova and graduate student Jack McCarthy as they battled seniors Paul Colin and Yassine Dlimi on court one. The Trojans’ No. 1 duo managed to force a tiebreaking final game but couldn’t quite finish the job, taking a 7-6 [7-4] loss and conceding the doubles point to the Knights.

The disappointment of defeat seemed to take the wind out of USC’s sails, as the match was all UCF from there on out. McCarthy fought valiantly in his first singles set against senior Mehdi Benchakroun before running out of steam in the second, suffering a 7-5, 6-1 loss.

McCarthy’s doubles teammate, Casanova, faced a reverse situation: After a brutal 6-2 first set against sophomore Clement Lemire, Casanova nearly took the second set to tie up the match but failed to follow through, falling 7-5 to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.

The Trojans’ last hope came in the form of Djuric, who found himself nearly locked in step with Dlimi on court one — but always just one step behind. Djuric’s 7-5, 7-5 defeat clinched a 4-0 victory for UCF on the day, knocking USC out of contention for an Indoor Championships bid and setting up a consolation match with Cal the following morning.

USC bounces back against Golden Bears

With the thrill of back-to-back victories to open the season having been replaced with the agony of back-to-back defeats, the Trojans entered Saturday’s matchup with the Golden Bears hungry for a turnaround — and their first ranked win of the year.

But at first, the doubles round seemed to forebode a repeat of the previous day’s events. 

Exsted and Trouve once again took care of business, dispatching junior Alex Aney and freshman Leonardo Cattaneo by a score of 6-4 to improve to 3-0 as a duo on the season. 

The remaining matches came down to the wire, with both forcing a final tiebreaker game — and both ending with Cal on top. Casanova and McCarthy fell 7-6 [7-5], moments before Church and Djuric lost 7-6 [7-3] to give the Golden Bears the doubles point.

However, while the opening loss doomed USC against UCF, it seemed to provide motivation Saturday. The Trojans went on a tear in the singles round, winning four straight matches to upset Cal and seal their biggest win of the young season.

Sophomore Niels Hoffmann kicked things off with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over freshman Andrea Meduri for his third win in as many matches. Trouve followed shortly behind, taking down junior Timofey Stepanov to give USC its first lead of the weekend.

Exsted had already seen plenty of success in doubles, but his singles match got off to a slow start with a 6-2 first-set loss to sophomore Bernardo Munk Mesa. Once he found his rhythm, though, the freshman stormed back with 6-3, 6-4 wins in the final two sets to snatch the match away.

After leaving his last two doubles matches empty-handed — and sitting at 0-3 in singles on the season — McCarthy was due for a turnaround in his one-on-one bout with sophomore Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski. With a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 triumph, McCarthy locked down his first individual win of the year, securing a 4-1 victory for the Trojans in the process.

Though they missed out on the Indoor Championships, Masi’s squad came away from an up-and-down ITA Kickoff Weekend with a statement win — and proof that they have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with top-level competition.

USC is set to get plenty more experience with said competition: The Trojans will return to Berkeley for a rematch against the Golden Bears on Saturday at 10 a.m., followed by a bout with No. 3 Stanford (4-0) on Sunday at noon.