OXFORD, MISS. -- No. 4 Southern California pocketed its eighth consecutive victory today in making it a winning Spring Break for the Trojans on Wednesday's 5-2 decision against No. 45 host Mississippi. USC peeled out of reach of the Rebels to secure the win, improving to 17-2 overall with the road victory.
The Trojans made swift moves out ahead of Ole Miss, stringing together a flurry of singles wins to follow the doubles point locked onto by Hanfmann/Sarmiento and de Vroome/Johnson. The nation's No. 8 pairing of Hanfmann and Sarmiento spurred past their opponents on court one for an 8-3 win that was matched by teammates de Vroome and Johnson on court two.
USC's singles strength was made glaringly apparent by #64 Roberto Quiroz, who streaked to a 6-3, 6-0 win against Stefan Lindmark on court three to take the Trojans to a 2-0 lead. Ranked third in the nation in singles, senior Ray Sarmiento hit the gas with a 6-4, 6-1 win against No. 89 William Kallberg at the No. 2 spot to get USC poised for victory. The deciding blow came from No. 118 senior Michael Grant on court six, where he'd secure the win on a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Vinod Gowda to lock USC in at a 4-0 advantage.
Action kept rolling along on the remaining courts, with Ole Miss getting on the board with a comeback push on court four by Johan Backstrom, who passed up USC's Eric Johnson for a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) decision that made it 4-1. Sophomore Max de Vroome fired back for the Trojans and made it 5-1 with his 7-6, 6-4 finish of Ricardo Jorge at the No. 5 spot. That put all eyes on the No. 1 match between USC's No. 11 Yannick Hanfmann and No. 44 Nik Schotz. The Rebel was able to fend off Hanfmann's bid for a third set and wrap up the match with a 7-5, 7-6 (5) decision that made it a 5-2 final score in USC's favor.
