The University of Nevada, Las Vegas hates to see USC men’s tennis coming.

Before Sunday’s matchup, the Trojans held an 18-0 all-time record against the Rebels, having limited UNLV to two points or fewer in every match — making their 3-2 deficit toward the end of Sunday’s match all the more surprising.

However, thanks to a couple of clutch tiebreaker wins, No. 21 USC (6-3) managed to stave off the Rebels’ (4-2) upset bid, escaping with a 4-3 win in front of its home crowd. Hours later, with the taste of victory still fresh, the Trojans cruised to a 4-0 sweep over UC Irvine (0-4).

USC stamps out Rebels

Sunday’s opener against UNLV promised excitement from the opening round, as all three doubles matches were decided by two points or fewer. While USC’s top duo in junior Andrin Casanova and graduate student Jack McCarthy fell 7-5, freshmen Max Exsted and Pablo Robledo Hoyos edged out a 7-6 (6) victory on court three, setting up a winner-take-all battle for the doubles point.

Though sophomores Nathan Trouve and Connor Church fought valiantly, pushing their match against Rebel senior Illia Maksymchuk and freshman Marko Maksimovic to the brink, they were unable to convert in the tiebreaker game, taking a 7-6 (2) loss and giving UNLV a 1-0 lead.

Losing the doubles point has doomed USC in the past — namely, in all three of its losses this season — but the Trojans refused to go down easily against the Rebels. The two squads traded back-and-forth blows in the singles round: Sophomore Niels Hoffmann and Church each won their respective matches with ease, while Trouve and McCarthy fell to UNLV’s top two players in straight sets.

On the verge of defeat, USC would need wins from both of its remaining players — Casanova and Exsted — to avoid the first-ever blemish on its perfect record over the Rebels. Fortunately for the Trojans, after two nail-biting first sets that both went to tiebreakers, Casanova and Exsted dominated their respective second sets to seal a 4-3 win for USC.

Trojans devour Anteaters

The Trojans had little time to celebrate their victory, as a second matchup with UC Irvine awaited them later that afternoon. Like with UNLV, USC had a long history of success to defend, entering Sunday with an all-time lead of 50-3 over the Anteaters.

Unlike the previous match, however, the Trojans had no trouble taking care of their foes, breezing through both the doubles and singles rounds without dropping a set.

Church and Hoffmann teamed up for the first time this season and found immediate success, downing Irvine’s duo of freshman Alex Guajardo and graduate student Rohan Sachdev, 6-2. Casanova and McCarthy followed suit with an identical 6-2 win over junior Max Fardanesh and graduate student Tal Goodman, clinching the doubles point and avenging their earlier loss.

With the first point in hand, the singles round was all academic for USC. Robledo Hoyos made quick work of fellow freshman Nathaniel Suh by a 6-1, 6-1 score, and Casanova was close behind with a 7-5, 6-1 win over graduate student Sohrob Amiryavari for his second singles victory of the afternoon.

After all four of the remaining Trojans won their opening sets, it was a race to see who could finish their match and put the Anteaters away first. When the dust settled, it was Church who emerged victorious, besting sophomore Ruining Huang 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the 4-0 sweep.

USC came out of Marks Tennis Stadium unscathed despite the absence of freshman Branko Djuric, who was competing for Serbia at the Davis Cup, an international event considered the men’s tennis equivalent of the World Cup.

Djuric typically serves as the Trojans’ No. 1 singles player, compiling a 2-2 record on court one through their first six matches. In his place, Trouve and McCarthy have both seen time at center court, with Trouve sitting at 1-1 and McCarthy at 0-0 after his lone match went unfinished.

With Djuric back on the court, USC will aim to pick up its third ranked win of the season when it hosts No. 24 Pepperdine (5-3) on Friday at 1:30 p.m.