The USC men’s tennis team closed a productive weekend defeating UC Irvine at the David X Marks Tennis Stadium. After a busy weekend facing UC Davis, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and UC Irvine, the Trojans will look to continue the intensity showcased in their first few matches.
Opening the 2022 season as the No. 9 ranked team in the nation, the Trojans have lived up to the ranking so far. A sense of intensity marked the atmosphere despite it still being pre-season as USC’s No. 10 ranked doubles duo made up of junior Stefan Dostanic and senior Bradly Frye were the first to rack up a win for USC in a 6-1 victory over UC Irvine’s graduate student Ricardo Roberto and sophomore Thomas Smart.
Soon after, graduate transfer Paul Barretto along with freshman Peter Makk completed the task, awarding the Trojans their first point and giving way to the start of the singles play.
Dostanic took centre court following his doubles win and was able to add another point for the Trojan side beating his opponent, UC Irvine’s graduate student Emmanuel Coste by a score of 6-3, 6-3. With an overall record in the 2021-22 season of 21 wins and four losses, Dostanic will look to extend his winning streak next week against Harvard.
Makk was also able to close things out quickly in his singles match, giving up a total of three games. He finished his Sunday match 6-0, 6-3.
The last to finish was Barreto. After a tough first set, Barreto was able to come back in the second, forcing a 10-point tiebreaker after reaching an overall score of 4-6, 6-2. He would later fall short in that same tiebreaker losing 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7) against UC Irvine’s junior, Ali Amiri.
USC head coach Brett Masi spoke about the fruitful set of results this weekend and what is to come when they face Harvard next week. “The biggest thing for us right now in these first couple matches, we are trying to raise our level,” Masi said.
Many times throughout the match Masi asked his players for intensity. He clarified that, “intensity is kind of a vague word at times. Intensity can mean yelling, it doesn’t necessarily mean that. It means your purpose to the point.”
The Trojans are now focused on the start of the regular season having closed off their tournament play this weekend with their last preseason matches. Now the ITA regular season will be kicking off next Saturday. Then, they will face No. 21 Harvard, looking to continue their winning ways from this preseason. Harvard’s last three matches include two shutout wins against Boston College and Georgetown and most recently a 6-1 loss at Virginia. Masi and his crew will welcome them to the ITA tournament next week at the Marks Tennis Stadium.