With the first rivalry match of the season fueling a sold-out Marks Stadium on Saturday, sophomore Niels Hoffmann found himself in a pivotal position: No. 14 USC and No. 22 UCLA were tied 3-3, turning his court-six singles match against Bruin redshirt freshman Cassius Chinlund into a winner-take-all battle. 

After splitting the first two sets, it all came down to a tiebreaking final round — and Hoffmann delivered, securing the final singles point to assert the Trojans’ (8-3) dominance over UCLA (5-3). Through the roaring crowd, Hoffmann’s animated expressions could still be heard, making it known this rivalry win was special. 

“They stayed with it and fought throughout the entire time,” Head Coach Brett Masi said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “You could tell nerves played a huge part in today’s match.”

USC had a transitional start to the season, bringing in several new additions like sophomore transfer Andrin Casanova and freshman Max Exsted, both of whom won their respective singles matches Saturday. The squad has shown its ability to compete against top teams, taking down No. 13 Pepperdine (5-4) and then-No. 15 UC Berkeley (7-5) earlier this season.

However, the Trojans have also seen some tough losses, including a 4-1 defeat to then-No. 3 Stanford (7-3) in which Casanova and Exsted left their sets unfinished. With some tweaks having been made to either their playing style or conditioning, USC’s new additions were a highlight of the Saturday afternoon match against the Bruins. 

After clinching the doubles match point, USC remained competitive through singles, with an accelerating win on court five from Casanova against UCLA senior Aadarsh Tripathi. After dropping the first set 6-1, Casanova seemed to thrive off the crowd’s energy to even it out in a 6-0 sweep. The Trojan from Switzerland rallied with his seasoned opponent to eventually take set three 7-5 in a dramatic finale. 

“He trusted himself and won the last three games,” Masi said of Casanova’s singles rally. “Really proud of him for that.”

Trojans pushed to the edge

While courts four and five went well for USC, with Exsted pulling off a 6-3, 7-6 straight-set win against UCLA junior Andy Nguyen, the Bruins fought back aggressively and relentlessly on the rest of the floor. 

Court one was a rally between USC freshman Branko Djuric and UCLA junior Spencer Johnson, with Djuric cinching set one 6-4, but dropping the next two to hand over the point to the Bruins. 

On courts two and three, both Trojans fell short in dominant straight-set losses, with USC graduate student Jack McCarthy coming up short 6-4, 6-1 against UCLA redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels, along with UCLA sophomore Rudy Quan keeping his consistency in a 7-5, 7-5 win over USC sophomore Nathan Trouve. 

“I got nervous, a little bit. … We flinched and got a little tight and nervous,” Masi said of the Bruins’ comeback. 

With this comeback allowing the Bruins to tie it up 3-3 going into the final court, it was up to Hoffman to take it home after a close match.

Hometown-ish hero

With everything on the line at court six, Hoffmann rose to the moment in a match marked by an intense verbal back-and-forth between the two southern California natives throughout the match. 

“We played a lot of junior doubles together [in high school], so we were pretty good friends,” Hoffmann said about Chinlund in an interview with the Daily Trojan. 

After claiming a hard-fought first-set tiebreak, Hoffmann stumbled in the second, then dominated the final set to complete a 7-6, 1-6, 6-1 victory and secure the 4-3 win for USC. 

“The second set I felt wasn’t really in my favor, like 20/80, but then it was 50/50, and I took the reins and ran away with it,” Hoffmann said. 

Masi said the team takes day-to-day conditioning very seriously, and on court six, the difference in preparation was clear, with Hoffmann playing at his physical best while Chinlund began limping in critical closing moments. Masi said that USC plans on continuing the behind the scenes work that he believes put the team ahead. 

“We really work on our fitness, and then also staying in the moment and staying cool and calm. None of our guys were cramping, and some of that is fortunate for us, so we’re able to win,” Masi said.

Next up for the Trojans are the M15 Naples 15K Tournament in Naples, Florida, and the PAC Coast Doubles in La Jolla, California, where the strategy remains keeping the athletes healthy and allowing new additions to shine.