Tennis takes home two weekend wins

With LMU’s Lukas Moenter’s forehand falling short into the net, USC freshman Logan Smith wrapped up a 3-6 6-2 6-3 win, clinching the match with a 4-0 lead for the Trojans. The dual match finished with a score of 6-1, the same score the Men of Troy defeated Grand Canyon University with Saturday morning. These two convincing wins brought the sixth-ranked Trojans to 5-0 on the season.

Freshman Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven, along with Smith, carried a heavy workload, playing in both singles matches on the day. Jaede clinched the first match for USC against GCU with a 6-4, 6-4 win before defeating LMU’s Alex Bourgeois in a dominating fashion, 6-0, 6-1.

Senior captain Max De Vroome followed Jaede against LMU in a quick 6-2, 6-2 victory with his opponent Cristobal Rivera struggling to return his serve all match. Verboven suffered a tight loss against GCU, falling 10-8 in a third set tiebreaker but was able to bounce back and win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second match of the day.

After winning the doubles point against Grand Canyon, the Trojans’ top-ranked player Nick Crystal won his match at the No. 1 singles spot, 6-2, 6-4, bringing his overall record to 13-6 on the year including 3-1 in dual matches.

Sophomore Thibault Forget also quickly beat his opponent Mathieu Rajaonah 6-3, 6-3, before Jaede’s clincher at line 5.

The three remaining matches all split the first two sets, with 10-point tiebreaker being used to decide the victor. Henry Ji, playing in his first dual match of the season, cruised to a 10-4 victory to seal his match, while Smith edged out a 10-8 battle. Verboven was the lone Trojan to fall to the Lopes after his tiebreak defeat.

The Men of Troy showed no signs of fatigue in the following match, despite it starting quickly after their dismantling of Grand Canyon.

After Jaede and de Vroome’s straight set victories, Smith was able to come back strong in the second set to lead to his third set clincher. Freshman Jake Devine finished off his third set with a 6-4 victory to put the Trojans up 6-0 in the match. The Trojans’ sole loss was junior Rob Bellamy, who played a tiebreaker to decide the match,, which he lost 10-8, after losing a close 7-5 first set then winning the second 7-6.

Overall USC continues to look strong on the year. Concerns about losing four of their top six players have been all but forgotten with the stellar play of the freshmen on the team as well as other underclassmen who have stepped up into more prominent roles. Returners Crystal and de Vroome have also been key with their play on the court and leadership off of it.

Due to the Trojans’ victory two weekends ago in the ITA Kick-off weekend hosted at Mark’s Stadium, they will be traveling to Charlottesville, Virginia next weekend to compete in the 16-school ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The Trojans were runners-up in the event last year and hope to have similar success in a strong field including three of last year’s final four teams — defending champions Virginia as well as Oklahoma and Baylor.