Men's Tennis | March 24, 2019

AUSTIN, TEXAS — The No. 15 USC men's tennis team took down No. 3 Texas in a strong showing in Austin today, upsetting the host Longhorns 4-2 as freshman Mor Bulis registered his first match-clinching singles win as a Trojan. USC had won the doubles point, but Texas pulled things even at 2-2 during singles. The Trojans dug back in, with Brandon Holt upsetting a top-10 opponent on court one before Bulis came through in the clutch from court six. The road win improves USC to 11-6 overall.

USC surged to snag the first point of the day with solid wins on courts two and three. At the No. 3 spot, USC's Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith whipped up a 6-4 decision over Texas' Huang/Ito to start things off on a winning note for the Trojans. Soon after, on court two, USC seniors Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven notched a 6-3 victory over Makes/Telles to take USC to a 1-0 lead and one into singles play.

At the No. 5 singles slot, Riley Smith tugged the Trojans to a 2-0 lead when he took out Texas' Colin Market 6-3, 6-2. USC and Texas had split first sets down the line, and the Longhorns fired back with #59 Harrison Scott's 6-3, 6-2 win over USC's #71 Logan Smith on court four to get Texas on the board. The Longhorns would lock even on a 6-4, 6-3 win by #9 Yuya Ito over USC's #10 Daniel Cukierman, snarling the score at 2-2. At the top spot, USC's #17 Brandon Holt upended Texas' top gun #6 Christian Sigsgaard with a 6-4, 6-4 Trojan victory that put USC back on top, up 3-2 with two tight matches still raging on. On court six, USC newcomer Mor Bulis had snagged the first set but was down 5-6 in the second until the freshman dug down and rallied to come through with his first clinching victory of the year. Bulis dropped Texas' Chih Chi Huang 6-2, 7-5 to secure a huge road win for the Trojans with a 4-2 decision over No. 3 Texas. 

Next up for the Trojans is a Pac-12 trip to the Bay Area, where USC will look to avenge nonconference losses to Cal and Stanford. USC visits Cal at 5 p.m. on Friday (March 29) in Berkeley and will face Stanford at 1 p.m. on Saturday (March 30) in Palo Alto. 

#15 USC 4, #3 Texas 2
March 24, 2019 | Austin, Texas
DOUBLES
(1) #16 Holt/R. Smith (USC) vs. #7 Sigsgaard/Scott (UT) - 5-6 susp.
(2) Jaede/Verboven (USC) def. Markes/Telles (UT) - 6-3
(3) Cukierman/T. Smith (USC) def. Huang/Ito (UT) - 6-4
Order of finish: 3, 2
USC wins doubles point.
SINGLES
(1) #17 Brandon Holt (USC) def. #6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) - 6-4, 6-4
(2) #9 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #10 Daniel Cukierman (USC) - 6-4, 6-3
(3) #28 Laurens Verboven (USC) vs. #104 Leonardo Telles (UT) - 4-6, 4-4 susp.
(4) #59 Harrison Scott (UT) def. #71 Logan Smith (USC) - 6-3, 6-2
(5) Riley Smith (USC) def. Colin Markes (UT) - 6-3, 6-2
(6) Mor Bulis (USC) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) - 6-2, 7-5*
Order of finish:  5, 4, 2, 1, 6*