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Friday Recap: USC Wins Battle of LA; Blue Gray Underway in Montgomery, Plenty of Top 50 Results

by | Feb 23, 2019 | Blog

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USC avoided its second three-match losing streak of this young season after knocking off crosstown rival No. 14 UCLA 4-1 in a non-conference tilt at USC’s Marks Stadium. USC struck first by claiming the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then the Trojans added four opening sets in singles. USC freshman Jake Sands cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 6 but UCLA freshman Govind Nanda answered with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2. USC senior Logan Smith, who was only playing in his second dual-match of the year, rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 and junior Riley Smith clinched at No. 4 with a 6-1, 7-6(3) win. Both teams were playing without their No. 2 singles players (Keegan Smith & Daniel Cukierman). 

USC will have two weeks off before starting Pac-12 play at Utah while UCLA returns to action on Tuesday at home against Grand Canyon. 

#24 USC 4, #14 UCLA 1
2/22/2019 at Los Angeles, CA (Marks Tennis Stadium)
Singles competition
1. Maxime Cressy (UCLA) vs. #21 Brandon Holt (USC) 6-3, 3-6, 1-1, unfinished
2. #53 Govind Nanda (UCLA) def. #23 Laurens Verboven (USC) 6-2, 6-3
3. #45 Logan Smith (USC) def. Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) 6-4, 6-2
4. Riley Smith (USC) def. Ben Goldberg (UCLA) 6-1, 7-6(3)
5. Mathew Tsolakyan (UCLA) vs. Mor Bulis (USC) 6-7(6), 3-3, unfinished
6. Jake Sands (USC) def. Eric Hahn (UCLA) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Cressy/Nanda (UCLA) vs. #21 Holt/R. Smith (USC) 4-5, unfinished
2. Jaede/Verboven (USC) def. Pereira/Zahraj (UCLA) 6-4
3. Frye/T. Smith (USC) def. Goldberg/Rapp (UCLA) 6-2
Match Notes:
UCLA 4-4; National ranking #14
USC 7-5; National rankings #24
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,2,3,4) 

 

The 71st annual Blue Gray Classic got underway on Friday with each team playing one and a half dual-matches. The higher ranked team won each of the first round matches with the closest men’s match a 4-2 win by Ole Miss over Princeton while the closest women’s match was Oklahoma State’s 4-2 win over Auburn. The winning teams advanced to the semifinals and played just the doubles point with singles scheduled to be played on Saturday. The teams that fell on Friday went to the consolation draw and played doubles as well. Each team will finish their current match on Saturday and then play one more match later in the day. For full results and updates check out the tournament’s page here. 

Men’s First Round: 
#32 Texas Tech def. Rice 4-2
#38 Arizona def. Auburn 4-0
#16 Alabama def. Fresno State 4-1
#48 Ole Miss def. Princeton 4-2
 
Men’s Second Round:
#32 Texas Tech vs. #38 Arizona 1-0
#16 Alabama vs. #48 Ole Miss 1-0

 
Men’s Consolation:
Princeton vs. Fresno State 1-0
Rice vs. Auburn 1-0
 
Women’s First Round: 
#33 Wake Forest def. Yale 4-0
#22 Illinois def. #43 Alabama 4-1
#13 Oklahoma State def. #37 Auburn 4-2
#35 Texas Tech def. Fresno State 4-0
 
Women’s Second Round
#33 Wake Forest vs. #22 Illinois 1-0
#13 Oklahoma State vs. #35 Texas Tech 1-0

 
Women’s Consolation:
Yale vs. #43 Alabama 1-0
#37 Auburn vs. Fresno State 1-0
 
 
There were plenty of ranked vs. ranked matches on Friday – more so than in the past since there are now 50 ranked teams as opposed to 25 prior to this week. 
 
Women:
  • #2 North Carolina def #36 Boston College 5-2 – BC won at No. 1 and No. 2 singles however UNC won in straights everywhere else. 
  • #3 Duke won at #12 Florida State 5-2 – FSU took dubs and Das won 6-4 in the third at No. 4 singles however Duke won in straights at 1, 3, 5 and 6-3 in the third at 2 and 6-4 in the third at 6. 
  • #7 Vanderbilt won at #24 Cal 4-3 – Dores took dubs and got straight set wins at 5 & 6 to go up 3-1. Christina Rosca clinched at No. 2 winning 6-3 in the third which made it 4-2. VU retired on final court after clinch.
    #16 LSU def. #19 Old Dominion 6-1 – Tigers won in straights at 3 & 6 with everything else going the distance
  • #20 Michigan def. #27 Pepperdine 4-0 – Wolverines took dubs and won lopsided singles matches at 2, 3, & 5. 
  • #23 NC State won at #14 Virginia 5-2 – UVA took dubs and won in straights at 1 while NCST won in straights at 4, 5, 6 and 7-5 in third at 2 and 6-3 in third at 3
 
Men:
  • #6 Stanford def. UC Davis 4-0 – Cardinal won in straights at 4 & 5 with Alexandre Rotsaert clinching 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 at No. 1 – other courts were close
  • #15 Oregon won at #46 Drake 6-1 – Oregon won the dubs decider in a tiebreak and rolled in straights at 1 & 3. The other matches were all close. 
  • #26 Tennessee won at #29 NC State 4-1 – Vols won dubs and in straights at 3 & 4 and 6-4 in the third at 2 – matches at 5 & 6 were early on when Vols clinched since match was indoors at NCST’s 4-court facility. 
    #28 Dartmouth def. #36 Memphis 4-0 – Big Green won a super close doubles point winning decider 7-6(11) and then won 9 of 10 completed sets in singles
  • #35 Miami FL def. Georgia Tech 6-1 – Canes took dubs and won in straights at 4 & 5 while GT won in straights at 3 – others went three sets 
  • #41 San Diego def. #47 UNC Wilmington 5-2 – Toreros rolled through dubs and won three quick singles matches to clinch at 4-0
  • #19 Florida State def. Clemson 4-0 – FSU won 8 of 10 sets in singles
  • Texas A&M def. Arizona State 4-3 – Aggies took dubs and Juan Aguilar made it 4-1 with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 win at No. 1 – match played indoors in Waco due to weather