USC claims fifth Pac-12 Men's Tennis Tournament title

No. 3 USC 4 v. No. 5 Arizona State 1

Third-seeded USC claimed their second-straight Pac-12 title in men's tennis (2019) and fifth overall on Monday, April 26, at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego Calif. USC has reached the Pac-12 Tennis Championship final every year except 2016 and of those five times UCLA has been their opponent. 

The Trojans took down fifth-seeded Arizona State (4-1) in the finals to crown them the Pac-12 Men’s Tennis Tournament Championships. The match began with ASU doubles team, McKennon/Ponwith taking down USC’s undefeated Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye, giving ASU an early lead in doubles which was followed by USC’s Daniel Cukierman and Riley Smith firing back with a win over ASU's Rakotomalala/Ruehl (6-4). The determining match for the doubles point ended with ASU’s Bolla/Lerby defeating USC’s Ryder Jackson/Jake Sands to give Arizona State the doubles point. 

Despite the Sun Devils strong start to the match, the Trojans prevailed with a comeback in the singles matches. The Trojans managed to even the score at 1-1 when Bradley Frye got an early win against ASU’s Andrea Bolla (6-2, 6-1) in singles. In his Pac-12 championship debut performance, freshman Lodewijk Weststrate played an important role in getting the Trojans ahead 2-1 with his defeat over Max McKennon (6-4, 6-2). Jake Sands followed his teammate on court 6, with a powerful win over ASU’s Christian Lerby (7-5, 6-1) which gave the Trojans a strong lead of 3-1 against the Sun Devils in the championship final match. Stefan Dostanic’s singles victory over Tim Ruehl clinched the match and Championship title for the Trojans to make it 4-1 and send USC into celebration mode. 

No. 3 USC 4 v. No. 5 Arizona State 1

DOUBLES: 

1. Daniel Cukierman/Riley Smith, USC def. Tim Ruehl/Makey Rakotomalala, ARIZONA STATE - 6-4 
2. Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye, USC v. Nathan Ponwith/Max McKennon, ARIZONA STATE - 6-4
3. Jake Sands/Ryder Jackson, USC v. Andrea Bolla/Christian Lerby, ARIZONA STATE - 3-6 

Order of finish: 2,1,3

SINGLES:

1. Daniel Cukierman, USC v. Nathan Ponwith, ARIZONA STATE - 6-4, 0-6, 1-3 unf. 
2. Riley Smith, USC v. Makey Rakotomalala, ARIZONA STATE - 4-6,  7-6 unf. 
3. Stefan Dostanic, USC def. Tim Ruehl, ARIZONA STATE - 6-3, 7-5
4. Bradley Frye, USC def. Andrea Bolla, ARIZONA STATE - 6-2, 6-1 
5. Lodewijk Weststrate, USC def. Max McKennon, ARIZONA STATE - 6-4, 6-2
6. Jake Sands, USC def. Christian Lerby, ARIZONA STATE, 7-5, 6-1

Order of finish: 4,5,6,3