USC Men’s Tennis prepares for All-American Championship

Men’s tennis will send three Trojans to Tulsa, Okla. Friday to compete in the St. Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships. USC looks to build on its solid performances against Georgia, Texas and Ohio State last week at the Southern Intercollegiates tournament. 

Senior Stefan Dostanic and freshman Peter Makk had notably impressive performances, head coach Brett Masi said.

“We got some good wins, Stefan [Dostanic] won the tournament. That’s his second tournament victory in a row,” said Masi in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “Peter Makk came away with an awesome victory on day one and on day three.”  

Masi noted the growth and development beyond the stat sheet this weekend was important going forward, despite USC not finishing with an ideal record in the competition. Since the team is now able to travel to away tournaments after they were canceled due to the coronavirus, bonding is very important to Masi.

“It’s nice to just eat meals together, or after matches, you’re sitting there hanging out together and watching football,” Masi said. “That was at least one week where we were all together. It was really good.”

Dostanic, alongside senior Bradley Frye and sophomore Lodewijk Weststrate, qualified for the singles tournament and will travel to Tulsa to compete.

The Trojans begin play on Monday and Tuesday with matches in the qualifying singles tournament. Dostanic, Frye and Weststrate will each look to earn one of eight qualifying positions for the main draw tournament beginning Wednesday. 

Dostanic and Frye also qualified for the main doubles draw and did not have to play in the qualifying tournament. They will begin competition as a pair on Wednesday following the qualifying doubles tournament. 

Masi is confident that all three Trojans competing this weekend will continue to develop their skills as the season progresses. Dostanic in particular, who won his first two singles tournaments, will look to continue his early
success.

“I got to think that Stefan [Dostanic] feels pretty good after his first two tournaments, knowing where he’s at is going to hopefully give him some a boost to go to All-Americans next week and maybe make a good run,” said Masi.

USC joins a number of schools across the country competing to improve their individual rankings and prepare for the spring season. 

This weekend’s tournament is another test to see how USC stacks up compared to the rest of the country. Masi is eager to improve every week and put the team in the best position possible to win.

“When we [all] play again in October, those things … we didn’t do well this week or the first two tournaments, we’re ready to change those and play better when we hit them again,” Masi said. 

The Trojans begin singles tournament play Monday and doubles tournament play Wednesday in Tulsa.