This weekend, No. 11 USC men’s tennis traveled to Seattle for the ITA National Indoor Tournament. After a first round loss to No. 10 Kentucky, the team beat No. 15 Ole Miss and No. 8 Stanford in consolation.
They were the Trojans’ first victories against top-15 ranked teams this season.
Friday, the team faced No. 10 Kentucky in the Round of 16 and lost 4-0. Kentucky took the doubles point with wins over freshmen Peter Makk and Wojtek Marek and grad student Paul Barretto and freshman Ryan Colby.
The team lost three straight singles matches. Sophomore Yasha Zemel clinched the win for Kentucky, beating Colby, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
It was the first time since 2019 the team had been shutout in a match.
“We were just very passive,” USC head coach Brett Masi said. “I didn’t feel like we fought hard.”
Masi said he challenged his team the rest of the weekend to fight harder on the court.
Saturday, the Trojans beat No. 15 Ole Miss 4-1. Ole Miss secured the doubles point with wins over No. 3 junior Stefan Dostanic and senior Bradley Frye and Barretto and Colby.
No. 46 Makk began the Trojan comeback, beating junior Lukas Engelhardt 6-1, 6-2. No. 4 Dostanic beat No. 18 junior Nikola Slavic 6-3, 6-2 followed by Marek beating No. 111 senior Finn Reynolds 6-4, 6-3.
Colby clinched the match beating senior Jan Soren Hain 7-5, 6-3.
“I saw a team who was ready and up for the fight, where Friday they weren’t,” Masi said. “This group was very much ready to seize the moment and take control of the match.”
Sunday, in their final consolation match, the Trojans beat conference rival No. 8 Stanford 4-1. Stanford clinched the doubles point with wins over Dostanic and Frye and Barretto and Colby.
Once again down after doubles, the Trojans mounted a comeback with four straight singles victories. It began with No. 46 Makk beating No. 49 freshman Max Basing 6-1, 6-4. Frye then beat No. 74 fifth year Axel Geller 6-1, 6-4.
Colby beat senior Tomas Kapczynski 6-3, 6-2 and No. 59 freshman Lodewijk Weststrate beat No. 108 sophomore Aryan Chaudhary 6-3, 6-3 to clinch the match.
Across all matches, Stanford won only one singles set against USC.
Masi said the biggest difference between this win and the loss to Stanford a few weeks ago was the players willing to make changes in their game and mentality.
“We got slapped in doubles. They played really well,” Masi said. “They fired us up and our guys took it to them [in singles]. "
Overall, Masi was excited to see the team grow over the weekend. “Our guys took on the challenge and they fought really hard Saturday and Sunday,” Masi said.
This Saturday, USC plays Pepperdine on the road.