Max de Vroome serves up the clincher from court six for a Pac-12 win.
Univ. of Southern California Team Page
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- The No. 3 USC men's tennis team shut down visiting No. 71 Arizona with a 7-0 sweep today at Marks Stadium, ringing up another Pac-12 victory for the Trojans. The Trojans ran the Wildcats all over the courts in drumming up their seventh straight win to improve to 19-2 overall and 2-0 in conference action.
USC forged ahead for the doubles point on wins at the No. 2 and No. 1 spots. On court two, Grant/Johnson had created some room for themselves early, leaping ahead 5-1 for some padding that helped the Trojans close out an 8-4 win over Dunn/Urquidi. At the top slot, USC's #37 Hanfmann/Sarmiento broke up an early on-serve stretch by wrapping strong service games around a break. The USC pair would hold court from the service line the rest of the way, securing the advantage for USC up 1-0 on the Wildcats with their 8-4 win over Ask/Shinde. That put the court three match into a tiebreaker, where USC's de Vroome/Wang battled from down two points to take the tiebreak and the match with a 7-6 (5) decision over Takeda/Thompson to roll the Trojans into singles action.
"It was great to see some guys that haven't been playing much step up today and perform great for us," USC head coach Peter Smith said.
The Trojans crammed their feet on the gas out of the gates in singles. Speed demon Yannick Hanfmann rang up a 6-1, 6-3 win over Fredrik Ask from court two to make it 2-0, and Eric Johnson mirrored that score with a power move to beat Sumeet Shinde. Up 3-0, the winning outside smoke came from freshman Max de Vroome on court six. He'd finish off Carlos Bermudez with a 7-5, 6-3 victory to clinch it with the Trojans up 4-0 on the visiting Wildcats.
Making a comeback push on court four was Jonny Wang, who had rebounded from a loss in the first set by drilling Mario Urquidi 6-0 in the second to bring up a third before de Vroome had captured the clincher. At the top spot, #9 Ray Sarmiento was in the groove against Kieren Thompson, ripping some big shots to come through with a 6-2, 6-2 win that bumped USC up 5-0. Wang was in full swing the rest of the way, meanwhile, as he shut down Urquidi with another silencing set to win it 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 next. At the other end of Marks Stadium, Michael Grant was honing in on the day's finale. Grant put away Naoki Takeda 6-4, 6-1, and USC had the 7-0 sweep in the books.
The No. 3 Trojans return to Marks Stadium tomorrow for a Pac-12 clash with No. 75 Utah at 1 p.m. on Saturday (April 6).
#3 USC 7, #71 Arizona 0
April 5, 2013 - Marks Stadium
DOUBLES
(1) #37 Hanfmann/Sarmiento (USC) def. Ask/Shinde (ARIZ) - 8-4
(2) Grant/Johnson (USC) def. Dunn/Urquidi (ARIZ) - 8-4
(3) de Vroome/Wang (USC) def. Takeda/Thompson (ARIZ) - 7-6 (5)
USC wins doubles point.
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
SINGLES
(1) #9 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Kieren Thompson (ARIZ) - 6-2, 6-2
(2) #48 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Fredrik Ask (ARIZ) - 6-1, 6-3
(3) #65 Eric Johnson (USC) def. Sumeet Shinde (ARIZ) - 6-1, 6-3
(4) #86 Jonny Wang (USC) def. Mario Urquidi (ARIZ) - 4-6, 6-0, 6-0
(5) #87 Michael Grant (USC) def. Naoki Takeda (ARIZ) - 6-4, 6-1
(6) #104 Max de Vroome (USC) def. Carlos Bermudez (ARIZ) - 7-5, 6-3*
Order of finish: 2, 3, 6*, 1, 4, 5