Univ. of Southern California Team Page
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- The No. 3 USC men's tennis team drummed up its eighth straight win in taking a 3-0 mark in Pac-12 play with today's 5-2 win over No. 75 Utah. The Trojans claim their 20th win of the year with the victory, clinched today by Yannick Hanfmann on court two, to go to 20-2 overall.
The Trojans were all business on courts one and two in the doubles scene. At the No. 2 spot, Grant/Johnson pounded out an 8-1 win over Mamedov/Medinilla before the Trojans' #37 tandem Hanfmann/Sarmiento hauled in the first point of the day for USC with an 8-2 win over Hamza/Lane at center court.
Four straight singles wins would propel the Trojans to victory, cleaning up in straight sets at the top four spots. No match was cleaner that #65 sophomore Eric Johnson's, though. Johnson shut out Alejandro Medinilla on court three, pinning up a 6-0, 6-0 win to carry USC ahead 2-0 in the match. #9 junior Ray Sarmiento was similarly dominant on court one, dishing out a 6-1, 6-1 win over Dmytro Mamedov to lob up an assist on the clincher, pounded in by #48 sophomore Yannick Hanfmann from court two. Hanfmann pinned a 7-5, 6-2 decision on Utah's Slim Hamza, and USC had the victory on the board, up 4-0.
"It was a great team effort to play this match with guys hurt and missing," USC head coach Peter Smith said, in reference to USC's Emilio Gomez and Roberto Gomez absent from the match in order to compete for Ecuador in the Davis Cup. "Utah gave us a battle in singles. Ray and EJ really stood out and led us."
The next USC point on the boards came from court four, where #86 sophomore Jonny Wang topped Devin Lane 6-4, 6-3. The last two matches would go the way of the Utes, however. At the No. 5 position, Utah's Cedric Willems beat out USC's #87 junior Michael Grant 6-3, 7-5. Back in action this week after being sidelined by injury, USC's #104 freshman Max de Vroome came up short of forcing a third set against Utah's Ben Tasevac, falling 6-3, 7-6 (4) to wrap the day as a 5-2 final in favor of the host Trojans.
USC stays home for two more Pac-12 matches next week. The Trojans will host Oregon at 1:30 p.m. on Friday (April 12) and then faces Washington at 1 p.m. on Saturday (April 13) at Marks Stadium.
#3 USC 5, #75 Utah 2
April 6, 2013 - Marks Stadium
DOUBLES
(1) #37 Hanfmann/Sarmiento (USC) def. Hamza/Lane (UTAH) - 8-2
(2) Grant/Johnson (USC) def. Mamedov/Medinilla (UTAH) - 8-1
(3) de Vroome/Wang (USC) vs. Tasevac/Willems (UTAH) - 6-4 susp.
USC wins doubles point.
Order of finish: 2, 1
SINGLES
(1) #9 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Dmytro Mamedov (UTAH) - 6-1, 6-1
(2) #48 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Slim Hamza (UTAH) - 7-5, 6-2*
(3) #65 Eric Johnson (USC) def. Alejandro Medinilla (UTAH) - 6-0, 6-0
(4) #86 Jonny Wang (USC) def. Devin Lane (UTAH) - 6-4, 6-3
(5) Cedric Willems (UTAH) def. #87 Michael Grant (USC) - 6-3, 7-5
(6) Ben Tasevac (UTAH) def. #104 Max de Vroome (USC) - 6-3, 7-6 (4)
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2*, 4, 5, 6
