Thursday, 04/12/2012

BERKELEY - The 12th-ranked California men's tennis team (11-7, 4-0 Pac-12) heads to Southern California for a pair of conference duals against top-ranked USC (23-0, 4-0) and No. 6 UCLA (18-2, 4-0). The Golden Bears face the undefeated three-time defending NCAA champion Trojans in a 1:30 p.m. PT dual at the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium on Friday, April 13. The team then heads down the road to take on the Bruins in a 1 p.m. dual on Saturday, April 14, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

No. 12 California (11-7, 4-0 Pac-12) at No. 1 USC (23-0, 4-0)
David X. Marks Tennis Stadium | Los Angeles, Calif.
Friday, April 13 - 1:30 p.m. PT
Live scoring and streaming video - www.USCTrojans.com

No. 12 California (11-7, 4-0 Pac-12) at No. 6 UCLA (18-2, 4-0)
Los Angeles Tennis Center | Los Angeles, Calif.
Saturday, April 14 - 1 p.m. PT
Live scoring - www.UCLABruins.com

The Golden Bears have won four straight matches to open Pac-12 play and are off to their best start in league matches since the 1953 squad won the Pacific Coast Conference championship on a 6-0 record and advanced to the NCAA title match. Each of Cal's seven losses has come at the hands of teams ranked in the ITA's top 10. In fact, the Bears will have revenge on their minds this weekend because three of those losses were to USC, once, and to UCLA, twice.

Cal has spent the majority of its spring on the road and played in its first home dual in over a month last weekend. The Bears looked comfortable at the Hellman Tennis Complex as they dispatched of No. 22 Washington and No. 62 Oregon in a pair of 7-0 sweeps.

Over the weekend, several Bears reached the double-digit singles wins plateau. 55th-ranked senior Nick Andrews was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second time, this season, as he posted a perfect weekend and earned his 15th singles win of the year. No. 41-ranked sophomore Ben McLachlan leads the team with 22 singles wins and is on a six-match winning streak that goes back to March 1.

No. 57-ranked senior Carlos Cueto earned his 11th win of the year as did freshman Gregory Bayane. Junior Christoffer Konigsfeldt posted his 10th singles victory of the season, as well. In doubles, the Bears' third-ranked duo of Andrews and Konigsfeldt won its 19th match of the year and is currently on an eight-match win streak on the top court. At court two, the Bears' 38th-ranked team of Cueto and McLachlan continues its dominance with a team-high 23-6 mark (11-2 in duals).

SCOUTING NO. 1 USC
USC has not lost a match this year and is on a 43-match winning streak as the NCAA's three-time defending champions. The Trojans won their third ITA National Indoor Championship earlier this year and are led by second-ranked senior Steve Johnson who has not lost a singles match in 55 outings. He is 20-0, this season, with a 15-0 mark in duals.

Johnson is only the first of five ranked Trojan singles players. Fellow senior Daniel Nguyen is ranked No. 17 and is 27-8, this season with a 16-3 record in duals. Sophomore Ray Sarmiento is one of three USC players with at least 30 singles wins, this year, and is ranked No. 20 with a 31-8 record to lead the Trojans. No. 43-ranked freshman Yannick Hanfmann is 30-7, and No. 56-ranked sophomore Emilio Gomez is 30-6.

In doubles, Johnson and Hanfmann are 10-2 overall with a 7-1 mark at the top court to hold the No. 7 ranking. Johnson is also ranked No. 15 when teamed with freshman Roberto Quiroz. That pairing is 9-0 with an 8-0 record at the top doubles court in duals. Nguyen and Sarmiento are ranked No. 20 together and lead all USC tandems with a 22-4 record (17-2 in dual matches).

The last time the Bears clashed with the Trojans, USC posted a 5-2 win at the Hellman Tennis Complex on Feb. 4. Cueto and McLachlan each won singles matches on courts two and four, respectively, and also won their doubles match at court two. USC owns a 10-match winning streak against Cal; five at home and five on the road. Cal's last win in the series was a 4-3 decision in 2006.

SCOUTING NO. 6 UCLA
UCLA is 10-1 in home duals, this year, and suffered its only home loss to USC on Feb. 29; a 6-1 Trojan victory. The Bruins' only other defeat was to Duke in the first round of the indoor championships. Since the loss to USC, UCLA has won its last seven matches; the most recent four of which were road tests.

The Bruin lineup features four ranked singles players and a ranked doubles team. No. 32-ranked senior Nick Meister is 16-4 on the season and has posted an 8-3 record at the top singles court. He is also 6-0 at No. 2 singles. No. 62-ranked sophomore Clay Thompson has recently assumed the top spot on the singles lineup and is 5-2 there with a 21-9 overall record.

Sophomore Adrien Puget is 19-2, this season, with a 16-1 mark in duals. Puget is ranked No. 71 in the nation among singles players and has a 14-match winning streak heading into the weekend. Freshman Marcos Giron is 21-6 on the year and is ranked No. 117 with a 12-3 record at No. 3 singles. Freshman Dennis Mkrtchian leads the Bruins with 27 singles wins and is 12-1 at court six. In doubles, Meister and Puget are ranked No. 46 together. Senior Alex Brigham and Giron are 10-8, and Thompson teams with junior Warren Hardie to lead all UCLA duos with 11 wins, this year.

The Bears and the Bruins have met twice, this season, with UCLA claiming the upper hand in each bout. The Bruins edged the Bears, 4-3, in Berkeley, on Feb. 3, and posted another 4-3 win in a consolation match at the ITA indoor championships. Last year, Cal swept the season series from UCLA for the first time since 2002, but UCLA has won eight of the last 10 meetings with the Bears.