UC Santa Cruz Athletics
University of Southern California
Trojans March over Banana Slugs
1/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES (1-16) – The Banana Slugs played their second match in as many days as they took on NCAA Division I #10 USC in Los Angeles. The Trojans won 6-1 over the Banana Slugs.
In their last match, the Banana Slugs won 7-2 over NAIA member Westmont College in Santa Barbara yesterday. The Trojans had a 17-7 record in 2016 with their season ending in the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis National Championships Round of 16 with a 4-3 loss to the University of Georgia in Tulsa.
The Trojans won five singles matches while the Banana Slugs won one. Two matches – the #3 singles match between Derek Levchenko of the Banana Slugs and Riley Smith of the Trojans and the #6 singles match between Ryan Dugan of UC Santa Cruz and Jens Sweaney of USC – finished with the Trojans' representative winning 6-4, 6-3. In the #1 singles match between ITA/NCAA Division I #114 Thibault Forget of USC and Chadwick Stone of UC Santa Cruz, Forget defeated Stone 6-0, 6-1. In the #2 singles match between ITA/NCAA Division I #20 Brandon Holt of USC and Chad Le Duff of UC Santa Cruz, Holt defeated Le Duff 6-2, 6-1. In the #4 singles match between Sean Hollister of UC Santa Cruz and Henry Ji of USC, Ji defeated Hollister 6-3, 6-2.
The tightest singles match of the day was the #5 singles match between Alexander Flora of the Banana Slugs and David Laser of the Trojans. Flora defeated Laser 7-5, 6-4.
"AJ (Flora) took a hotly contested match and was down a break in the second set but put the games in a row to close the door!" said head coach Mike Napoli. "The Slugs exhibited great potential against USC. It's a moment my players will always remember and will prove to be a great life's teaching moment."
The Trojans won two doubles matches while one match was suspended. In the #1 doubles match between Dugan and Stone of UC Santa Cruz and Holt and Smith of USC, Holt and Smith defeated Dugan and Stone 6-1. The tightest doubles matches was the #2 doubles match between Hollister and Le Duff of the Banana Slugs and Laser and Verboven of the Trojans. Laser and Verboven defeated Hollister and Le Duff 6-3. The #3 doubles match between Flora and Levchenko of UC Santa Cruz and Ji and Sweaney of USC was suspended with Flora and Levchenko leading 4-3.
Below are the full results:
#1 Singles Thibault Forget (USC) def. Chadwick Stone (UCSC) 6-0, 6-1
#2 Singles Brandon Holt (USC) def. Chad Le Duff (UCSC)` 6-2, 6-1
#3 Singles Riley Smith (USC) def. Derek Levchenko (UCSC) 6-4, 6-3
#4 Singles Henry Ji (USC) def. Sean Hollister (UCSC) 6-3, 6-2
#5 Singles Alexander Flora (UCSC) def. David Laser (USC) 7-5, 6-4
#6 Singles Jens Sweaney (USC) def. Ryan Dugan (UCSC) 6-4, 6-3
#1 Doubles Holt/R. Smith (USC) def. Dugan/Stone (UCSC) 6-1
#2 Doubles Laser/Verboven (USC) def. Hollister/Le Duff (UCSC) 6-3
#3 Doubles Flora/Levchenko (UCSC) vs. Ji/Sweaney (USC) 4-3 (Sus.)
The next match for the Banana Slugs will be Friday as they take on Santa Clara University in Santa Clara. The first serve is set for 10 am.
