Well the guys pulled one out against the #3 Buckeyes (a much better indoor team) getting 4 out of 6 singles matches after losing a close doubles point. Freshman Yannick Hanfmann pulled out a three set victory against Senior Devin McCarthy 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Hanfmann has also been named Pac-12 player of the week. He won all his singles matches with only this one going 3 sets, next year he will probably be the #1 player at USC with seniors Johnson and Nguyen leaving. The torjans really hung in there after having a tough go in the doubles losing in a tie breaker in the deciding match. USC is now 11-0 on the season with a Double header coming this friday at Marks Stadium at 1:00 vs. SDSU and under the lights at 6pm against USD.

USC will face Ohio State in their first visit to the championship finals, since the indoor champs begone in 2007. Yes the OSU team that USC beat in the finals of the NCAAs back in 2009, which started off the run of 3 in a row championships. This OSU team is led by #16 Chase Buchanan, he is also a senior as is Steve Johnson and Daniel Nguyen and his teammate Devin McCarthy are the only four players left who played that day. OSU is another one of those east coast teams that has their own indoor facility and plays well in that kind of venue, which will make this a tough match. Playing indoors is completely different than outdoor being that there is no wind, sun and with poor lighting (sunlight is the best to see the ball), this all makes the ball appear to be faster.

Can USC prevail against the #3 ranked Buckeyes, my answer is yes because of the make-up of the Trojans. With a player of the caliber Yannick Hanfmann who plays #5 and is ranked of the Pro tour in the top 700 which is higher than 5 of 6 OSU players, makes me think the Trojans are better, but it will be important for both teams to win that doubles point. In the old days we used to have a 9 point total with the each match counting as 1 and the doubles being played last and 2 out of 3 sets, instead of a 8 game pro-set which was put together to save time so the players could get back to the books.

The match started at 9:00 Pacific here is the link

ITA NATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS (Charlottesville, Va.)

#1 USC 4 #3 OHIO STATE 3 No. 1 Singles 1 2 3 #11 Steve Johnson 6 6 - #16 Chase Buchanan 3 4 - No. 1 Doubles 1 #28 S.Johnson/Hanfmann 5 #1 Buchanan/Rola 8 No. 2 Singles 1 2 3 #18 Ray Sarmiento 5 3 - #12 Blaz Rola 7 6 - No. 2 Doubles 1 Nguyen/Sarmiento 6 #27 McCarthy/Van Engelen ⇐ dnf 7 No. 3 Singles 1 2 3 #14 Daniel Nguyen 6 6 - Peter Kobelt 1 2 - No. 3 Doubles 1 Gomez/Quiroz (4) 8 Kobelt/Smith (7) 9 No. 4 Singles 1 2 3 #47 Emilio Gomez 6 6 - #99 Ille Van Engelen 3 4 - No. 5 Singles 1 2 3 #36 Yannick Hanfmann 3 6 6 #65 Devin McCarthy 6 3 4 ⇐ Currently Serving Order of Finish Doubles: 1,3 Singles: 3,4,6,1,2,5 No. 6 Singles 1 2 3 Eric Johnson 3 6(6) - #107 Connor Smith 6 7(8) -

#1 USC 4, #4 Georgia 1

DOUBLES

(1) Hanfmann/S. Johnson (USC) def. #7 Brasseaux/Spencer (UGA) - 8-3

(2) Nguyen/Sarmiento (USC) def. Doumbia/Pieters (UGA) - 8-2

(3) Gomez/Quiroz (USC) vs. Pasha/Taboada (UGA) - 6-7 susp.

USC wins doubles point.

Order of finish: 1, 2

SINGLES

(1) #11 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #21 Sadio Doumbia (UGA) - 6-4, 7-5*

(2) #18 Ray Sarmiento (USC) vs. #3 Wil Spencer (UGA) - 3-6, 6-4, 4-3 susp.

(3) #14 Daniel Nguyen (USC) vs. #55 KU Singh (UGA) - 4-6, 6-4, 1-5 susp.

(4) #47 Emilio Gomez (USC) def. #43 Ignacio Taboada (UGA) - 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

(5) #36 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. #72 Hernus Pieters (UGA) - 6-3, 6-4

(6) Nathan Pasha (UGA) def. #86 Roberto Quiroz (USC) - 6-3, 6-1

Order of finish: 6, 5, 4, 1