Yes the seven time all-american comes back from the pro tour to help win a 4th team championship in a row (only USC has done it twice) and the his 2nd singles crown. Today he took on Eric Quigley of Kentucky and won his 72nd singles match in a row with a 6-4, 6-4, featuring two players that only drop one set in five rounds. Considering that Steve won two challenger series tournaments in 5 months to a ranking in the top 300 in the world, to come back to college tennis says a lot for the Trojan senior. With this win he will get a automatic bid to the US Open, without having to play Qualifying for the second year in a row. Last year he lost a five set match to Alex Bogomolov (#46 ATP) which could have gone ether way, hopefully he gets past that this year. Here is a couple of very enlightening videos they will tell a hidden story of Steven's run. Enjoy

Today Steve beat longtime friend and Junior doubles partner Bradley Klahn of Stanford 6-4, 7-5, in a very tight match. In the first set they battled back in forth holding serve to 4-4, then Steve made his move holding and then breaking Bradley at 40-15. Both of these guys can play the net and backcourt, they also have very fast serves in the 130s. But I would say that Steven has a better second serve and controlled the games more than Bradley, always winning his serve easy and getting to deuce on Bradley's.

In the second set Steve held and broke right away going up 2-0, then Steve was serving at 30-30 and had a let cord serve the ball bounced short and Bradley got to it and hitting a crosscourt angle winner. After that Klahn broke back and held his own serve for 2-2. Then they went on holding serve and got to 5 all, Steve held serve and was up 6-5. Johnson won the first to points while returning going up 30 love, but Bradley pulled back to 30-30. On the next point Steve work it for a down the line backhand winner, so with his first match point he hit forcing return that Klahn couldn't keep in.

So now it is on to the finals against Kentucky's Eric Quigley the #3 seed in the draw another senior and excellent player, they play at 9:00 PST monday. Link

Once a player or a doubles team reaches the quarter finals they become all americans, the first time for Maria and Roberto and 7th for Steven. Maria is the First USC women's tennis player since Maria Sanchez (2010) to get to the quarter finals. Roberto got this honor for being the partner of Johnson in doubles, which they play their Semi Final today at 4:00 EST. Today Johnson took out Virginias Alex Domijan (yes they lose again) 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 and advance to the semi-finals, where he will face long time friend Stanford's Brady Kahn of San Diego. Brady and Steve go way back since they played and won numerous junior doubles titles, this will be a match up of the last two ncaa champions. Maria lost a tough match today to #13 Zsofi Susanyi Cals #2 player 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), she made a grand comeback after going down 2-4 in the second set to draw to a tie breaker. Outstanding match with Maria using the whole court in staging the comeback, but after going up 4-3 in the breaker she had a twist of faith with 2 double faults and then a missed forehand.

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This quote came from the virginia site here on SB Nation--Link-

This year's momentum-killing rain storm and tiebreaker losses certainly rival that one. USC has a great team and a great program, but controversy does tend to follow them. Doug Doughty, reporting from Athens, was critical of the team's questionable line calls. In fact, Quiroz was overruled enough times enough times to force a one-game penalty for any future indiscretion. Perhaps the Honor Code has done us in again!

I guess we can't win without cheating--funny thing is I know Coach Pete Smith and he doesn't condone cheating---Plus they have a line judge on the court. But I guess they are tired of losing to USC.

1st seed and undeafeated Steven Johnson went about business as usual with a 6-2, 6-3 win over #31 Roy Kalmanovich of Illinois, just another day at the office. #25 Ray Sarmiento took matters in his hands with a 6-1, 6-1 win against #120 Nick Sayer of Radford. #21 Daniel Nguyen had a tough match against #44 Charlie Jones of VANDERBILT, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, Emilio Gomez beat Nikola Bubnic, USD 6-4, 6-4. Last nights hero Yannick Hanfmann was the only casualty losing to Louis Cant 6-4, 6-4 of Mississippi, after playing till 12:30 in the morning. Nice effort on a guy that didn't get much sleep as did the rest of the trojans, at least they all got adjusted start times.

On the women's side Zoe Scandalis won in a tough 3 setter against Lucia Batta of UNLV, 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2 and Danielle Lao beat #46 Keri Wong of CLEMSON, 6-3, 6-1. The only other player Sabrina Santamaria upset 7th ranked Chelsey Gullickson the eight seed of GEORGIA, 6-3, 6-2, great win. Nice to see seven of eight Trojans advance to the second round of the Ncaa singles champioships. Tommorow single and the start of doubles will be played. links Live Scoreboard, Live Scoreboard singles and Live Scoreboard, Live Scoreboard---Draws--Men's Singles Bracket, Men's Doubles Bracket and Women's Singles Bracket, Women's Doubles Bracket.

Yup they did it again, won another NCAA championship for the 4th time in a row for the second time at USC. This is the 20th time a USC men's tennis team has won the national championship, ending up 33-1 0n the year. This much had a strange twist of faith since we lost the doubles point, getting totally cooked by the Cavaliers after all three Trojan teams lead 3-1. But then as of yesterday the skies opened up and the rain came, causing about a 4 hour delay. They came out after the rain started warming up and then Thunder showers came so they went to play in the indoor facility again.

Now you couldn't watch any streaming and all you could do is get the scores and even that didn't work most of the time, why this wasn't televised by the tennis channel I don't know. So now indoor with only 4 courts, one thru four singles stepped onto the courts down 1-0. Steven Johnson was the first to win his 31st in a row with a 6-2, 6-2 score over #4 ranked Jarmere Jenkins (only 3 losses all year) to tie up the match 1-1, then Emilio Gomez finished off Drew Courtney 6-4, 6-2 to bring USC to 2-1 lead. But then the most unlikely thing happen Dan Nguyen's win streak at the NCAA championships ended 4th straight years and 23-0 he lost to the #2 ranked Mitchel Frank 6-3, 6-1, to pull even at 2-2.

Now there were still 3 matches to play with numbers 5 & 6 starting to play and Raymond Sarmiento finishing up, he came in with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Alex Domijan for USC to go up 3-2. So at five and six singles USC freshman Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz were left to finish off the Cavs, a tough haul for newcomers. But after both split the first two sets Hanfmann came thru with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 win winning the tiebreaker 7-3 the same score as Dan Nguyen's clincher yesterday against UCLA.

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Well the USC Men prevailed but the Ladies didn't both teams playing Ucla in the Ncaa Semi's in the national championship. The men will play Virginia in the finals which is a rematch of last year and will be tomorrow at 2:00 PST in Athens Georgia, if anyone is going to fly out hey the Band Did. Today was really a weird one with the mens teams being rained out at the start of singles (trojans over bruins in doubles 1-0), then moving into the indoor facility that only has 4 courts.

So you have Virginia/Pepperdine and USC/ucla both having to finish, so only two matches from each team could play. USCs number one player and the #1 ranked player Steven Johnson finished off Clay Thompson of ucla 6-1, 6-1, then Ray Sarmiento ripped thru Nick Meister 6-1, 6-1 for USC to go up 3-0. Now it came to Dan Nguyen and Emilio Gomez to the courts both behind in the first set. While both lost the first set the senior Nguyen fought back to take the second set and Emilio lost his match 3-6, 4-6, which bought the score to 3-1 USC. Then Dan went to work and pulled out a 3rd set Tiebreaker 3-6,6-3, 7-6 to put USC in the finals for the 4th straight year.

Earlier today USCs women's team lost a heart breaker to ucla 4-3 after getting 3-2, after losing the doubles point in the beginning. A great showing by the young Trojans with everyone back for next year plus they get a top ranked junior in Ellie Yates, they should be back next year for another run.

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Watching #1 singles player Steven Johnson defeat Dukes Henrique Cunha (#5 ranked player) 6-4, 6-0, it was like he was just hanging around, then decided to run all over Cunda. This was only the sixth match of the year that Cunda has lost and was the 2nd time he played Johnson (4-6, 3-3 unfinished), in a Feb match at the indoors. This time Johnson put the pedal to the metal and won his 23rd and 63rd match in a row, totally dominating men's NCAA tennis. In the second set Cunda couldn't handle Steves first serves (as a friend of mine said Steves serves were bouncing up to 6' plus up to 130) and then Johnson started owning the returns, along with most of the points played.

But the first player to finish was Danny Nguyen with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Torsten Wietoska who he beat 4&2 back in the Feb. indoor match, Dan is one of USC most reliable players in the NCAA tournament matches. Then Emilo Gomez was then next player to cash in with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Fred Saba, for USC to go up 3-0. Then Duke pulled out a win at #5, but it was Steve Johnson for the final point. USC will face Ucla a 4-2 winner over OSU tomorrow at 5:00 est--2 pac, Plus a word from Danny Nguyen USC academic all district player after the jump.

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The Women of Troy Moved past the Cardinal to the semi-finals with a 4-2 victory and will face #1 Ucla for the third time this season, they are 1-1 on the year. After pulling out the doubles with Lao/ Ramos clinching with a 8-6 win after being 6-6, the trojans handled the #4 seed stanford in singles taking 3 of 5 and leading in the remaining match. In singles the cardinal won the first match at #1 singles Nicole Gibbs over Zoe Scandalis 6-1,6-4, Gibbs dominated the first set only losing her serve and finished off Zoe with a tight second set. Gibbs is the #3 ranked player in the ncaa where Scandalis is only #14, plus stanfords #2 player Mallory Burdette is ranked #5.

With the score now 1-1 USC freshman Gabriella DeSimone at #5 singles played the fastest 3 set match I have ever saw, losing the first set 1-6 but taking the next two 6-2, 6-2 to bring the score to 2-1 trojans. Next Stanfords #6 player Veronica Li beat Valeria Pulido in a close match with a 6-4, 7-5 win to bring the score to 2-2. Now it was up to Trojans Danielle Lao, Sabrina Santamaria, and Kaitlyn Christian all in three set matches by now to get 2 points to win the match. Fisrt to finish was Junior Lao at #2 singles beating the higher ranked Burdette 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 with a great comeback. While Lao was closing out her match, Sabrina was in a third set Tiebreaker and took the early lead of 4-2 but then all of a sudden the score was 5-5 and then she won the next to points to clinch the victory. USC lost to Stanford 4-2 up at stanford 3 weeks back, so this was sweet revenge and one of the few win against the Cardinal in the last couple of years.

Next up the #1 ranked Bruins at 10:00 PST monday.

Go Trojans

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The USC Men racked up another win this morning, beating Illinois 4-0 and will face Duke in the quarter finals on sunday at 12:00 EST. The Trojans now 30-1 started things off with tough wins at #1 & #2 doubles with each match went 8-6 and the #3 team lost 8-4, before the others were done. Now up 1-0 the teams turned to singles were the trojans had straight set wins at #4, #2 and #1 positions, sending Illinois packing.

Some interesting quotes and a recap of the day---NCAA Championships Day 2 Recap

USC Head Coach Peter Smith
On being challenged with doubles play...
"I was really happy it was close. We’re down 7-2, 7-3 and then we come back and we lose 8-6 at court 3 and all of those things. We need experiences playing in tough situations, and they gave it to us in doubles."

On singles play...
"We thought we had some really good matchups. That’s as good as I’ve seen (Ray Sarmiento) play all year. And (Steve Johnson) was Stevie. Stevie gets going and it’s a train that’s hard to get out of the way."

"When its on three courts, everything is amplified. Its like a dual match squared. Momentum swings are greater. The call at the end of the match swung the momentum in our favor. Stevie has been in that situation. He’s not uncomfortable, that’s for sure."

On senior Steve Johnson...
"Someone yelled from the stands "He doesn’t want it." Not Steve Johnson. Steve Johnson wants it as much as everyone I’ve ever met. He’s a competitor. And a competitor wants a challenge. If someone is going to give hm a challenge, he’s going to rise to it. He’s pretty special. He’s a talented kid and a talented competitor."

2012 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dennis Magill Tennis Complex - Athens, Ga.)

Round of 16 - May 18

[1] USC 4, Illinois 0

DOUBLES

(1) #2 S. Johnson/Quiroz (USC) def. #21 Kalmanovich/Nevolo (ILL) - 8-6

(2) #35 Nguyen/Sarmiento (USC) def. Guignon/Kopinski (ILL) - 8-6

(3) Gosea/Hoh (ILL) def. Gomez/Hanfmann (USC) - 8-4

USC wins doubles point.

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

SINGLES

(1) #1 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #7 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) - 6-4, 6-3*

(2) #25 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. #31 Roy Kalmanovich (ILL) - 6-3, 6-3

(3) #21 Daniel Nguyen (USC) vs. Bruno Abdelnour (ILL) - 6-4, 1-4 susp.

(4) #57 Emilio Gomez (USC) def. Tim Kopinski (ILL) - 6-0, 6-3

(5) #51 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) vs. Stephen Hoh (ILL) - 6-2, 5-3 susp.

(6) Roberto Quiroz (USC) vs. Ross Guignon (ILL) - 7-5, 4-1 susp.

Order of finish: 4, 2, 1

The #5 seeded Trojan women's tennis team beat #12 Baylor today 4-1 to reach the quarter finals and will play #4 Stanford on saturday at 12:00 EST. USC took the doubles with dominate play at #1 & #3 positions to go up 1-0 then it was on to singles, Baylor winning the first match at #5 to make it 1-1. After that the Trojan machine got started with Valeria Pulido taking a 6-1, 6-3 match at #6 singles to make it 2-1 USC. Singles matches 1-4 were all tightly contested with all going 3 sets, but at #2 Danielle Lao lost the first set fast but held on to win the second in a tye break after fighting off six match points. This effort delayed any thought of momentum shift and Sabrina Santamaria and the clincher being Zoe Scandalis pulled out victories at #3 and #1 respectively. NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL NCAA TEAM BRACKET

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The 29-1 USC Trojans mens tennis team match up with the 16-7 Illinois at 9:00 eastern tomorrow, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, Athens, Ga. The Trojans being the #1 seed in the Ncaa team tournament are trying to win their 4th straight team championship, it will be a tough task with Ucla, Duke, and OSU on their side of the draw.
On the other side is Georgia, Virginia, Pepperdine, Cal and Stanford will all have a good chance of making their way to the final. The Pac-12 and the Sec have 4 each and the ACC has 3 and the big ten with two, you can catch the action with these links---NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL, NCAA TEAM BRACKET

Facing Texas A&M in the second round the Trojans won 4-0 to move to the third round at Athens Georgia, playing on friday at 9:00. USC took the doubles point with two 8-4 victories at #1 & #2 doubles, then Senior Steve Johnson got the first singles point with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Then super sophomore Ray Sarmiento winning at #2 singles with a 6-1, 6-4 showing, finally freshman Robert Quiroz clinching the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win at #6 singles. Next up for the 29-1 Trojans is the #16 seed Illinois a 4-3 winner over Auburn, winner to match up with Baylor (unseed sleeper) or #8 Duke. 2012 NCAA BRACKET and women's 2012 NCAA BRACKET

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The USC women's team beat Fairfield 4-0 in the 1st round, then take down Vanderbilt 4-1 in there 2nd round match to advance to the round of 16 at Athen's Georgia starting May 17. It has been awhile since they have made it to the final rounds site, this as the #5 seed and #4 ranked team in the nation with a 22-3 overall record. After working hard to take the doubles point from Vandi, Valeria Pulido started things off at #6 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 bageling of Megan Gornet, the next point went to Vandi at #3 singles, Sabrina Santamaria a 6-2, 6-3 loser to Marie Casares. Now ahead 2-1 the Trojans took #2 singles when Danielle Lao beat #94 Lauren Mira 6-2, 6-3 to go ahead 3-1 and USC need just one point with 3 matches remaining. So here comes USC's #4 player Kaitlyn Christian to finish off the Commodores with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Ashleigh Antal to take the match and move to the round of 16 against 25-7 Baylor.

The men beat Fairfield 4-0 in their first round match on saturday and play Texas A&M today at Marks stadium on the USC campus at noon, sorry but maybe you can still catch singles action since this will be a contested match. The men won the doubles quickly with 8-2 and 8-1 victories at #1 & 2, getting the first point. Then it was on to the singles where #1 Steven Johnson with 6-0, 6-1 win over Dan Sauter, next was Ray Sarmiento at #2 single with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Ian Testamond putting the trojans ahead 3-0. Then it was freshman Yannick Hanfmann winning at #4 singles 6-2, 6-2 over Dennis Zlobinsky to clinch the match.

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Yes, come next week it is that time of the year with both teams seeded high this year and will host the first two rounds in the tournament. The mens team has been ranked all year long at #1 and will be the top seeded team in the 64 team draw, playing for their 4th crown in a row. USC will play host to Fairfield, South Carolina and Texas A&M for the opening rounds. On Saturday, May 12, South Carolina (15-11) and Texas A&M (13-14) will face off in first-round action at 9 a.m. at Marks Stadium. At 12 p.m., the Trojans (27-1) will take on Fairfield (16-4). The winners of Saturday's play will advance to the second round match, set for 12 p.m. on Sunday, May 13. 2012 NCAA BRACKET Sleepers in this 2012 draw are Pepperdine, Boise State, Texas, Michigan and Baylor.

All six mens players made to the Ncaa Individual tournament May 23-28, Athens Georgia, Steve Johnson is the #1 seed with Ray Sarmiento and Daniel Nguyen placed in the draw and Emilio Gomez, Yannick Hanfmann also in the field of 64 players. In doubles USC has only one team the draw of 32 with Johnson and Roberto Quiroz the #3 seeds, plus Nguyen and Sarmiento as alternates.

On the Womens side of things they are seeded #5 in the team field which is the first time since 2006 to be put that high in the draw. If they move along as expected they will be going for their eight crown in their 30th apearance in the ncaa finals. They also start the early rounds at home: Friday, May 11, Vanderbilt (16-7) and San Diego (13-9) will face off in first-round action at 11 a.m. at Marks Stadium. At 2 p.m., the fifth-seeded Women of Troy (20-3) will take on Fairfield (14-6). The winners of Friday's play will advance to the second round match, set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 12. 2012 NCAA BRACKET Sleepers in this draw are Tenn, Arizona, Georgia Tech and Tulsa

Four women's players made the individual draw that being Zoe Scandalis, Sabrina Santamaria, Danielle Lao and Kaitlyn Christian (in doubles with Sabrina) as the #4 seed in the 32 team draw.

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Today USC had another preffered walk-on in Elijah Steen commits to USC as preferred walk-on this kid is know as a hard hitting 6-1 205 DB along with a 4.1 GPA at Beckman HS a California Distinguished School, not only is he good he is smart. The first perffered walk-on is San Clemente all-county DB and Kick returner Christain Tober while 5-9 175 has 4.58 speed, it is nice that we get some great back-up walk-on like this.

Elijah Steen #7 2011 (via elijahsteen7)

Christian Tober Highlights (via 247SportsStudio)

Bruins for 3 years have been down, but as a result of the Mayo debacle USC actually went down even further. Consider that USC has the best arena in LA and UCLA has been in a run-down arena which now just got remodled, the Trojans still trail. After the success of coach Tim Floyd in which he was going to have one of the best recruiting classes in USC history since the Fab 4, the Trojans have been obscure in the last 3 seasons. So should have USC not made Tim resign ( he was looking at coaching opps two years in a row) would this program would have taken over LA, I say yes. Bringing in KO and keeping him past one year was a mistake made buy the current AD, yes he didn't pick Kevin but that is an argument in it self. Really what else does a AD have to do but run the department and find ways to improve and control the teams and coaches.

The reason I am bringing this all up is that because of seeing a former Trojans son Shabazz Muhammad ( #2 player in the nation) pick its rival school in sports, even though both recruited him. He said today that he wanted to go to Ucla to help put them back on top in college basketball--wow how the heck does this really happen ucla falters and we couldn't move on that. Sorry KO lovers but if Pat Haden would have made one his priority's to get a more appealing coach it might have been different. I say appealing because coach O'Neill doesn't seem to be involved with AAU coaches which is important in getting coaches to know of your system, to promote you to the players. So really I can't blame KO he is only doing what he is capable of and recruiting has never been that, he is a great defensive assistant period. So I ask did we miss the window?

The Women Beat a shorthanded ASU team 6-1 after ASU had to forfiet #3 doubles and #5&#6 singles, due to injuries. The only Trojan to lose was #1 freshman Zoë Scandalis which was a close match going either way, this took place after the Lady Trojans had already won the match and reminding matches up to Zoe's. Now the #4 women take off to the bay area Friday against Stanford and Saturday with Cal, both are ranked in the top ten 6th and 9th respectively. Then the following week they end Pac-12 play with a match at Westwood against the #1 ranked Bruins.

#4 USC 6, #29 Arizona State 1

April 7, 2012 -- Marks Stadium

DOUBLES

(1) #2 Christian/Santamaria (USC) def. Brycki/Smith (ASU) -- 7-8 ret.

(2) Pulido/Scandalis (USC) def. James/Sahagun (ASU) -- 8-2

(3) Lao/Ramos (USC) win by ASU default

USC wins doubles point.

SINGLES

(1) Michelle Brycki (ASU) def. #15 Zoë Scandalis (USC) -- 7-6 (2), 6-4

(2) #22 Danielle Lao (USC) vs. Joanna Smith (ASU) -- 6-0, 6-1*

(3) #36 Sabrina Santamaria (USC) vs. Hannah James (ASU) -- 6-1, 6-2

(4) #76 Kaitlyn Christian (USC) vs. Leighann Sahagun (ASU) -- 0-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5)

(5) Gabriella DeSimone (USC) win by ASU default

(6) Valeria Pulido (USC) win by ASU default

Order of finish: 2*, 3, 4, 1

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Playing on the road the USC mens tennis team get a 5-2 victory at Utah playing indoors and moving to 22-0 for the season. After winning the first 5 match points they give up the last 2 having to play set tie-breakers, due to time restraits. The women's team playing at home beat the Wildcats 6-1 too move to 17-2 on the season and 6-0 in conference. Funny thing about this match USC lost the double point then woke-up and then won all six singles matches, great recovery by this squad lead by Senior Alison Ramos. If you got time on Saturday the women play at 12 noon on the USC campus, it will be the last time you can see Alison play being the last Home match this year.

#4 USC 6, #28 Arizona 1

April 6, 2012 -- Marks Stadium

DOUBLES

(1) #50 Marks/Smyth (ARIZ) def. #2 Christian/Santamaria (USC) -- 9-8 (7)

(2) #52 Pulido/Scandalis (USC) def. Johnson/Landman (ARIZ) -- 8-6

(3) McRann/Stubbe (ARIZ) def. Lao/Ramos (USC) -- 8-6

ARIZ wins doubles point.

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

SINGLES

(1) #15 Zoë Scandalis (USC) def. #66 Lacey Smyth (ARIZ) -- 7-6 (5), 6-0*

(2) #22 Danielle Lao (USC) def. #81 Natasha Marks (ARIZ) -- 7-6 (4), 6-3

(3) #36 Sabrina Santamaria (USC) def. Sarah Landsman (ARIZ) -- 6-1, 6-3

(4) #76 Kaitlyn Christian (USC) def. Kim Stubbe (ARIZ) -- 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

(5) Gabriella DeSimone (USC) def. Susan McRann (ARIZ) -- 6-2, 6-1

(6) Alison Ramos (USC) def. Laura Oldham (ARIZ) -- 6-2, 7-6 (4)

Order of finish: 5, 3, 6, 1*, 4, 2

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USC mens tennis recorded their 41st consecutive win in the longest streak known in the modern era, yah thats right ucla 41 in a row. So I wonder if Nike owner Phil Knight was at the match to see his Ducks getting shot down again by a USC team, I will bet he wanted his clothes back. The Trojan completely de-feathered the ducks and cook them to, taking the doubles in a sweep as usual and taking all the singles matches. Lead by Super Sophomore Ray Sarmiento at #2 singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win and then Senior Steve Johnson at #1 singles with a 6-1, 6-1 win the trojans went up fast 3-0. Freshman Roberto Quiroz playing #5 singles instead of 6 clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win ahead of trojans Eric Johnson, Daniel Nguyen and Emilio Gomez to make it a 7 to love trashing of the Ducks.

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Playing in the comforts of Marks Stadium the 4th Ranked Trojan women beat Oregon 7-0 to go 15-2 on the year and getting Richard Gallien his 300th, as coach of the Trojans. This was a total domination of the Ducks, with the Lady Trojan netters not losing a set to go 4-0 in conference. Making quick work of her opponent Sophomore Kaitlyn Christian led the charge with a 6-1,6-1 win at #4 singles. Then newcomers Gabriella DeSimone and Sabrina Santamaria finished off the match with straight set wins at #5 and #3 singles, with 6-1, 6-2 & 6-3, 6-1 scores.

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On monday USC beat Boise State 6-1 and today they beat Washington 7-0 in Seattle, to keep the winning streak going. Playing with a short squad against BSU they got out to a 4-0 lead then finished off the Broncos to get their 19th win on the year. After that match they headed to Washington for Pac-12 play and caged the Huskies in the great white north. Against the Huskies the Trojans ripped thru the Doubles then Daniel Nguyen took the first singles match with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at #3 singles. Then Trojan sophomores Ray Sarmiento and Emilio Gomez ground out straight set victories 6-4, 6-3 & 6-0, 7-6 respectively at #2 & #5 singles to clinched the match. Roberto Quiroz, Steve Johnson and Yannick Hanfmann rounded out the singles for the 7-0 and 20th win for the season. Up next is Oregon in Nikeville tomorrow going for coach Peter Smiths 200th victory.

#1 USC 7, #22 Washington 0

March 30, 2012 -- Seattle, Wash.

DOUBLES

(1) #15 Johnson/Quiroz (USC) def. Egger/McMorrow (UW) -- 9-7

(2) #18 Nguyen/Sarmiento (USC) def. Hawke/Manthou (UW) -- 8-2

(3) Gomez/Hanfmann (USC) def. Bots/Stith -- 8-5

USC wins doubles point.

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

SINGLES

(1) #2 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #14 Kyle McMorrow (UW) -- 6-3, 6-3

(2) #23 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Emmett Egger (UW) -- 6-4, 6-3

(3) #13 Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. Marton Bots (UW) -- 6-4, 6-1

(4) #38 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Max Manthou (UW) -- 6-0, 4-6, 6-4

(5) #53 Emilio Gomez (USC) def. VIktor Farkas (UW) -- 6-0, 7-6 (3)

(6) Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Nicholas Kamisar (UW) -- 6-4, 6-2

Order of finish: 3, 2, 5*, 6, 1, 4

The Trojans beat Colorado 7-0 on the road to move to 3-0 in the Pac-12 and now head home to match-up against Washington and Oregon. Again the Trojans sweep the doubles only giving up 7 games on the way to the first point of the match. Then junior Valeria Pulido won the next point with a Bagel at #5 singles 6-0, 6-0 for her 5 consecutive win. Next up was Zoë Scandalis a 6-2, 6-0 winner at #1 singles now the Trojans up 3-0 in the match Turn to the Clincher #4 singles player Gabriella DeSimone a 6-3, 6-2 winner for her team leading six clinched matches. With the match in hand the rest of the girls came thru with straight set victories by Alison Ramos, Sabrina Santamaria and Kaitlyn Christian in that order, to finish off the Buffs 7-0. This team is getting better week by week as showing in the last to shutouts on the road; even #1 ucla only beat Colorado 5-2 and Utah 6-1 and against Colorado USC didn’t play #2 singles player Daniel Lao.

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The Trojan women shut out #35 Utah friday in Salt Lake city to move up to 13-2 and 2-0 in the Pac-12 for the season. After sweeping the doubles senior Alison Ramos lead the singles attack with a 6-3, 6-2 win at #6 singles, after making her way back in the singles line-up. Ramos has struggled for a couple of years lets hope she finally back on track, for she was one of the best southern california juniors a couple of years back. Freshman Gabriella DeSimone was the next to finish with a 6-4, 6-0 win at #5 singles, then Kaitlyn Christian finished things off at #4 singles. Next up for the Trojans is at the Buffloes in Boulder on sunday, hope the girls got some snow play in all this but of course unlikely.

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THe trojan men just keep bouncing alone with a victory over #10 Florida at Marks Stadium. After taking the Doubles with wins at all positions and only giving up a total of 6 games in three matches, the trojans finished off the Gators taking 5 of 6 singles matches.

Senior Steve Johnson's 6-1, 6-2 win over #61 Bob Van Overbeek started the singles barrage off with wins at 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 with the only loss at the hands of Emilo Gomez to Gator Spencer Newman 6-2, 6-3. USCs Roberto Quiroz took the next match with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Billy Federhof at #6, then the clinching match was Yannick Hanfmann at #5 singles were the German sensation won 7-5, 6-2 over Florent Diep to go up 4-0.

Rounding out the match were Ray Sarmiento and Daniel Nguyen getting three set matches with tie breakers played for the last sets, Ray had a 6-2, 6-7, 1-0 (10-5) over #57 Tripper Carlton and Dan's 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-2) win against #56 Nassim Slilam. Quite a international line-up for the Gators with Diep and Slilam from France.

Steve Johnson winning 50 matches in a row leads the undefeated Trojans past Texas A&M with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over #27 Alexis Klegou, wow 50 in a row. The trojans took the doubles point with wins at #1 Steve Johnson & Roberto Quiroz 8-5 & # 2 Daniel Nguyen & Ray Sarmiento 8-3 with Emilio Gomez & Yannick Hanfmann losing in a tie break 7-6. Singles matches were wins at #1, #2, #4 and #6 with Danny Nguyen pulling off the clincher a 6-4, 6-4 win. The trojans are now 17-0 and will be home for a 3pm match against Florida on Monday.

#1 USC 5, #20 Texas A&M 2

March 15, 2012 -- College Station, Texas

DOUBLES

(1) S. Johnson/Quiroz (USC) def. #22 Ore/Withrow (TAMU) -- 8-5

(2) #21 Nguyen/Sarmiento (USC) def. Hoover/Klegou (TAMU) -- 8-3

(3) Angus/Lewis (TAMU) def. Gomez/Hanfmann (USC) -- 7-6 (5)

USC wins doubles point.

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

SINGLES

(1) #2 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #27 Alexis Klegou (TAMU) -- 6-2, 6-1

(2) #16 Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. Colin Hoover (TAMU) -- 6-4, 6-4*

(3) Junior Ore (TAMU) def. #24 Ray Sarmiento (USC) -- 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2)

(4) #41 Emilio Gomez (USC) def. Jeremy Efferding (TAMU) -- 1-6, 6-4, 6-4

(5) John Lewis (TAMU) def. #30 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) -- 6-3, 6-4

(6) #121 Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Niall Angus (TAMU) -- 6-2, 6-2

Order of finish: 1, 6, 5, 2*, 4, 3

The USC men took a 6-1 win over the #13 ranked Longhorns at Austin, with Steve Johnson leading the way with a 6-0, 6-1 win at #1 singles. Again freshman Yannick Hanfmann clinched the match playing #4 singles after moving up from #5, this kid will probably be #1 next year if he sticks around. Roberto Quiroz, Ray Sarmiento and Daniel Nguyen all won their singles matches with only Emilio Gomez losing a tough 3 set match. The trojans are now 16-0 and match-up with Texas A&M on thursday at College Station at 6pm, I am wondering if my old mix doubles partner Madilyn will be there.

The Womens team also had an easy time in beating the #8 Longhorns 4-0 then giving in to two losses in 3 sets after the match had been decided, at Austin. Valeria Pulido playing at #6 started things off with a 6-2, 6-1 victory after the trojans took the doubles hands down, winning all 3 matches. Sabrina Santamaria playing at #3 singles came in with the next point with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Noel Scott, then the kicker came at #1 singles by Freshman Zoe Scandalis a 6-3, 6-4 winner over #24 Aeriel Ellis. The women are now 12-2 on the season and will play on the road at Uath next friday.

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