No. 12 USC Men’s Tennis Crashes Waves 4-2 To Advance to NCAA Round of 16

LOS ANGELES — The No. 12 USC men's tennis team has a ticket to Orlando in-hand after securing a 4-2 win over No. 28 Pepperdine in today's NCAA Second Round match at Marks Stadium.  The hard-fought victory not only avenged an earlier loss to the Waves, it sends the Trojans on to the NCAA Round of 16 for the 14th straight time. To get that trip locked in, USC scooped up the doubles point and then dug out three straight-set matches among a few three-set battles. Stefan Dostanic delivered the clincher for USC after a heroic 12-10 tiebreaker in his first set to help build momentum for his push to the clinching victory. USC is now 22-6 overall.

USC got a leg up with #10 Daniel Cukierman and Riley Smith cruising to a 6-3 win on court one. The other two doubles matches were tightening up, but the reliable Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye stayed solid and snagged the doubles point for USC with a 7-5 decision at the No. 2 spot. 

With tight singles matches raging, Lodewijk Weststrate would stay calm and tug his Trojans ahead 2-0 on a smooth 6-4, 6-1 over Corrado Summaria on court five. Captain Daniel Cukierman followed soon after with a stabilizing victory for the Trojans at the top spot, beating #119 Adrian Oetzbach 7-6 (4), 6-1 to make it 3-0. On court two, Riley Smith had shrugged off a first-set loss to force a third against Guy Den Ouden, while Stefan Dostanic gutted out an incredible first-set tiebreaker against Daniel De Jonge on court three to keep USC charging along. 

On court six, Jake Sands also forged his way into a third set after dropping the first to  Pietro Fellin. Bradley Frye would come up short of his push to extend his match on court four, however, falling 6-3, 7-6 (5) to Tim Zeitvogel as Pepperdine picked up its first point to make it 3-1. The Waves pulled one back when Den Ouden fended off USC's Smith for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 decision that made it 3-2, but Dostanic was not done. After that epic first-set tiebreaker, the sophomore hit the gas in the second and scooped up the clincher with a 7-6 (12), 6-2 victory that lodged a 4-2 score on the board for the Trojan cause.  

With this NCAA Second Round win in its sails, USC will head to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., to take on either No. 5 seed Virginia or Stanford in the NCAA Round of 16 at 1 p.m. PT on May 17.

2021 NCAA FIRST & SECOND ROUNDS

SECOND ROUND
[12] #12 USC 4, #28 Pepperdine 2
May 8, 2021 | Marks Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
DOUBLES
(1) #10 Cukierman/R. Smith (USC) def. #71 Den Ouden/Oetzbach (PEP) - 6-3
(2) Dostanic/Frye (USC) def. Summaria/Zeitvogel (PEP) - 7-5
(3) Jackson/Sands (USC) vs. De Jonge/Fellin (PEP) - 5-5 susp.
Order of finish: 1, 2
USC wins doubles point.
SINGLES
(1) #49 Daniel Cukierman (USC) def. #119 Adrian Oetzbach (PEP) -  7-6 (4), 6-1
(2) Guy Den Ouden (PEP) def. #52 Riley Smith (USC) - 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
(3) #116 Stefan Dostanic (USC) def. Daniel De Jonge (PEP) - 7-6 (12), 6-2*
(4) Tim Zeitvogel (PEP) def. Bradley Frye (USC) - 6-3, 7-6 (5)
(5) Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) def. Corrado Summaria (PEP) - 6-4, 6-1
(6) Jake Sands (USC) vs. Pietro Fellin (PEP) - 3-6, 6-3, 1-3 susp.
Order of finish: 5, 1, 4, 2, 3*