The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
USC
No. 13 Men's Tennis falls to No. 1 USC, 6-1
03.13.2012 | Men's Tennis
March 13, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas sophomore David Holiner registered a three-set victory over an ITA top-50 opponent, but No. 1 USC (16-0) emerged with a 6-1 victory over the 13th-ranked Longhorns (12-5) Tuesday evening at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center. USC, a three-time defending NCAA champion, extended its winning streak to 36 matches.
The Trojans took two of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point, but Texas registered a win over a nationally-ranked opponent at the second doubles slot. Ben Chen and Daniel Whitehead defeated USC's 21st-ranked duo of Daniel Nguyen and Ray Sarmiento by a 9-7 count after trailing 7-4 earlier in the match.
USC extended its lead to 2-0 when the Trojans' second-ranked Steve Johnson defeated UT's 62nd-ranked Soren Hess-Olesen at first singles, 6-0, 6-1. USC took a 3-0 lead when Roberto Quiroz posted a 7-5, 6-1 win over UT's Joey Swaysland at sixth singles. The Trojans clinched the victory at fourth singles, where the 30th-ranked Yannick Hanfmann notched a 7-5, 7-5 win over Texas' Chen.
USC pushed its lead to 5-0 when its 24th-ranked Sarmiento topped UT's 69th-ranked Daniel Whitehead at second singles, 7-5, 6-3. Holiner, after dropping his first set to USC's 41st-ranked Emilio Gomez, pushed the match to a third set with a 6-4 second-set victory. Holiner trailed 3-2 in the final set before breaking Gomez's serve and taking the next four games, as he cruised to a 6-3 win to take match.
USC finished off the match at third singles, where the 16th-ranked Nguyen defeated UT's Sudanwa Sitaram, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
Texas resumes dual-match play on Sunday, March 18 when it hosts Tulsa (1 p.m.) and UT Permian Basin (6 p.m.) in a day-night doubleheader. Both matches will be televised live on Longhorn Network.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
USC is one of the best teams that we have seen maybe in several years. They are very composed, and there is a reason why they are No. 1 in the country. I give them full credit. Overall, we did some good things tonight. We had a great comeback at No. 2 doubles and had some great chances at No. 1 doubles. I thought that we played at a pretty good level. In the singles, it looked like we had chances in four first sets, and we only got one of them. That was a matter of USC making plays under pressure. David Holiner had a great win tonight. I thought he played so hard and so tough, and I was really proud of him. I knew it was going to be a big test for us and I wanted to see how we would handle it. We learned a lot, and I think it will make us better down the stretch. We will see how much we can catch up to them by the end of the year, but right now they are the best.
No. 1 USC 6, No. 13 Texas 1
Doubles - Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
1. Steve Johnson/Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. #40 Chris Camillone/David Holiner (UT) 8-5
2. Ben Chen/Daniel Whitehead (UT) def. #21 Daniel Nguyen/Ray Sarmiento (USC) 9-7
3. Emilio Gomez/Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Jacoby Lewis/Joey Swaysland (UT) 8-2
Singles - Order of Finish: 1, 6, 4, 2, 5, 3
1. #2 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #62 Soren Hess-Olesen (UT) 6-0, 6-1
2. . #24 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. #69 Daniel Whitehead (UT) 7-5, 6-3
3. #16 Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. Sudanwa Sitaram (UT) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
4. #30 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Ben Chen (UT) 7-5, 7-5
5. David Holiner (UT) def. #41 Emilio Gomez (USC) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
6. #121 Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Joey Swaysland (UT) 7-5, 6-1
