Singles Strength Scores 5-2 Win Over Oregon For USC Men’s Tennis
LOS ANGELES — The No. 16 USC men's tennis team dug out of a doubles hole with a gutsy effort in singles to post a 5-2 win over visiting No. 49 Oregon. After scoring a couple straight-set wins to take the lead, the Trojans had to dig deeper for their remaining points, with today's clincher coming from Riley Smith on court two. USC improves to 16-5 overall and to 4-1 in Pac-12 play with the win at Marks Stadium
The Ducks dug out the doubles point with wins on courts one and three wrapped around still-perfect Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye's victory on court two. That Trojan pair is now 9-0 together on the year.
Oregon would carry that 1-0 lead into singles play, where the Trojans were looking to get their groove back. At the top spot, #26 Daniel Cukierman cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Joshua Charlton to pin a point on the board for the Trojans. On court six, Ryder Jackson was in similarly fine form, tacking up a 6-2, 6-1 win over Luke Vandecasteele to tug the Trojans into the lead, up 2-1. The other matches were not so easily solved, however.
It took three sets for USC to gather in another point, with #87 Stefan Dostanic rebounding from a second-set loss to make it 3-1 Trojans on his 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 win o ver Quinn Vandecasteele on court three. The Ducks bit back when Brandon Lam fended off USC's Lodewijk Weststrate 7-5, 7-5 on court five, nudging the score to 3-2. Senior Riley Smith would come through with the clincher. After match point evaded him, #28 Smith kept firing and hauled in the winner on his 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over #91 Emmanuel Coste. That left a 10-point tiebreaker in action on court four between Bradley Frye and Jesper Klov-Nilsson to determine the final point of the match. After a late lockup, Frye came through with the final points needed to round out the day on one more Trojan victory with his 4-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (10-8) comeback effort.
Next up for the Trojans is a road trip northward. USC will visit Cal at 1:30 p.m. on Friday (April 9) in Berkeley before heading to Palo Alto to take on Stanford at 1 p.m. on Saturday (April 10).
#16 USC 5, #49 Oregon 2
April 3, 2021 | Marks Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
DOUBLES
(1) #70 Charlton/Q. Vandecasteele (ORE) def. #2 Cukierman/R. Smith (USC) - 6-3
(2) Dostanic/Frye (USC) def. Coste/Klov-Nilsson (ORE) - 6-3
(3) Lam/Matsushita (ORE) def. Jackson/Weststrate (USC) - 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Oregon wins doubles point.
SINGLES
(1) #26 Daniel Cukierman (USC) def. Joshua Charlton (ORE) - 6-1, 6-1
(2) #28 Riley Smith (USC) def. #91 Emmanuel Coste (ORE) - 7-6 (4), 6-4*
(3) #87 Stefan Dostanic (USC) def. Quinn Vandecasteele (ORE) - 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
(4) Bradley Frye (USC) def. Jasper Klov-Nilsson (ORE) - 4-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (10-8)
(5) Brandon Lam (ORE) def. Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) - 7-5, 7-5
(6) Ryder Jackson (USC) def. Luke Vandecasteele (ORE) - 6-2, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 6, 3, 5, 2*, 4