Over the weekend, No. 20 USC women’s tennis headed north for a challenging road swing, hoping to come away with a couple of statement wins against top-ranked competition in No. 11 Stanford and No. 16 UC Berkeley. 

The Trojans (6-2) ended Friday’s matchup with their heads high after a 4-3 upset over the Cardinal (2-3), but they were unable to duplicate that energy a day later, falling in a 4-2 loss against the Golden Bears (2-0).

“We have a tough stretch of road matches,” Assistant Coach Ben Goldberg said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “To win big matches on the road takes everything — [it] takes absolutely everything.”

Trojans eke out win over Stanford

USC claimed an early lead against Stanford in the doubles matches, keeping the Cardinal on the defensive. Sophomore Jana Hossam and junior Lily Fairclough took over on court one, bringing in a 6-3 win against senior Caroline Driscoll and freshman Monika Ekstrand. 

On court two, USC freshmen Krisha Mahendran and Dani Borruel were unable to keep up with their freshmen counterparts, Alyssa Ahn and Tianmei Wang, in a 5-1 loss. However, senior Emma Charney and freshman Eugenia Zozaya paired up for a 6-2 victory over senior Emma Sun and junior Sein Myoung, clinching the doubles point for the Trojans.

Friday’s lineup notably switched up the usual pairings of Borruel/Fairclough and Mahendran/Hossam, ranked No. 6 and No. 51 in the country, respectively. Borruel and Fairclough had accumulated a respectable 3-2 record through USC’s first six spring matches, but Mahendran and Hossam sat at just 1-4, likely prompting the change.

“We actually switched up our doubles lineup, trying a couple of different pairs,” Goldberg said. “It turned out to go really well.”

In singles, the Trojans got off to a strong start with Zozaya’s 6-3, 6-3 early win against Wang, but after No. 16 Hossam came up short 7-5, 6-1 against No. 67 Ekstrand, it was a constant battle between USC and Stanford. 

After Myoung defeated Mahendran 6-2, 6-2 on court five to tie the overall score, Borruel responded with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Sun, advancing the Trojans’ lead to 3-1. It wasn’t until No. 12 Charney took a brutal three-set loss against No. 18 Ahn on court two that all eyes were on No. 95 junior Immi Haddad to bring the Trojans home. 

After long rallies that included returning overheads and staying in command on the offensive, Haddad had done it — she clinched the 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 tiebreaker win USC needed to upset Stanford, taking down No. 77 Driscoll.

“That was just so impressive with how [Haddad] handled herself under the most precious situation,” Goldberg said. “It was honestly a great teaching moment for the whole team to see how she carried herself and executed under a really high-pressure moment.”

Battle with Golden Bears ends in defeat

While the Trojans got off to a hot start in doubles against Stanford, they were unable to keep up that success against the Golden Bears the following day. 

Fairclough and Hossam showed promise with an easy 6-3 defeat over senior Berta Passola Folch and junior Mao Mushika, but the rest of USC’s doubles fell short. Charney and Zozaya started strong at 5-3 but were ultimately defeated 7-5 by sophomore Naomi Xu and junior Tiziana-Marie Schomburg. Mahendran and Borruel also came up just short at 7-6, handing the doubles point to Cal and contributing to the Trojans’ slow start.

With the doubles matches already setting the tone, USC was unable to come up clutch in multiple close singles matches with Cal. Haddad, Hossam and Charney were defeated in harsh three-set tiebreakers, sealing a Golden Bear victory. Zozaya and Mahendran managed to soften the blow with victories of their own, getting the Trojans on the board with 6-3, 6-3 and 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 scores, respectively.

“The Cal match was very heartbreaking,” Goldberg said. “We could almost see the finish line — it stung a little more because we really were right there.”

The Trojans will take to the road once more for a match against the No. 19 Pepperdine Waves (3-1) on Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.