May 24, 2011; Stanford, CA, USA; Members of Southern California Trojans celebrate after defeating the Virginia Cavaliers during the finals of the men

The USC Trojans Tennis program started NCAA play in style, playing strong tennis in front of their home crowd at Mark’s Tennis Stadium. Fans witnessed quite the spectacle as their Trojans marched on to the Sweet 16 in both men’s and women’s tennis, over the weekend.

The No. 4 Trojans took care of business on Friday and Saturday, defeating Sacramento State 4-0 and then disposing of the scrappy San Diego Torrero’s 4-1 in the second round. The fifth-ranked Women of Troy rolled through Sacramento State and UC Irvine without losing a game, on their quest to avenge last year’s semifinal loss to UCLA.

The Trojans wasted little effort in the first round against the Hornets, as all three doubles tandems won in convincing fashion securing the point. Then in singles play, Max de Vroome started the round off right notching a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Sean Kolar. Just a few minutes later, #36 Roberto Quiroz defeated Roy Brandys 7-5, 6-0 to give the Trojans the 4-0 sweep.

Over on the women’s side of things, the Women of Troy started their tournament in similar fashion, taking down Sacramento State 4-0 on Saturday. USC improved to 22-2 with the victory, led by Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria who won their doubles match 8-0 securing the Trojans doubles point. Ellie Yates doubled Troy’s lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win Andrea Gomez Carus of Sacramento State, and then Zoe Scandalis clinched the win with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Sophie Lohscheidt.

The spectacular weekend for Kaitlyn Christian continued as she notched the fourth point in a 4-0 win in the second round for her fifth-ranked Trojans on Sunday. The Women of Troy ran their winning streak to 15 matches as they defeated No. 32 UC Irvine (23-5) advancing to the round of 16 for the second consecutive year.

The Anteaters won the first game in doubles play, but the Trojans quickly responded as the sophomore duo of Guiliana Olmos and Zoe Scandalis topped Ali Facey and Brooke Schweyer 8-0, to tie the doubles. Then the No.1-ranked tandem of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria continued their winning ways, notching an 8-3 victory to secure doubles. 

The victory upped Christian and Santamaria’s season record to 31-0 as a doubles tandem.

Back on the men’s side, the four-time defending national champions disposed of rival University of San Diego 4-1, winning their 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament match. Emilio Gomez and Michael Grant started the match with an 8-2 victory for the Trojans in the doubles, then star tandem Ray Sarmiento and Yannick Hanfmann secured the doubles point 8-4 the tally.

The singles had its fair share of ups and downs, but in the end the Trojans were not going to allow the Torrero’s to pull off another upset, following their 4-3 thrilling victory over Alabama. Roberto Quiroz notched the first victory (6-1, 6-2), improving his record to 12-4 as the No. 3 player in the singles rotation. In a major upset, #16 Ray Sarmiento dropped the final two sets after sweeping Clarke Spinosa 6-0 in the first.

Luckily for the Trojans the team responded, pulling out two more victories with Max de Vroome officially sending the pesky Torrero’s home with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Victor Pugliese.

Both the Men and Women of Troy will now set sails for the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill. The Women of Troy face 12th-seeded Stanford (18-4) on Friday at 10 a.m PT, coming off their 6-1 victory over the Cardinal in the regular season. The Trojans will square with the 13th-seed Baylor Bears on Thursday at 2 p.m PST, with a possible matchup of Ohio State looming in the Elite Eight.

The Trojans are led by junior All-Americans Vladimir Morozov and Dimitri Colupaev, sophomore All-American Cristian Quintero and senior All-American Alex Lendrum as they prepare to compete in the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving National Championships.

Junior Vladimir Morozov will give USC a fighting chance, searching for his first NCAA title in the 50y free since Joe Bottom won in 1977. The two-time defending Pac-12 champion is the top seed in the 100y free.

Junior Dimitri Colupaev is a two-time All-American in the 200y free after finishing second in 2012 and sixth in 2011. He is seeded 12th this year in the race, after winning the Pac-12 race twice in his career.

Sophomore Cristian Quintero is coming off Pac-12 wins in the 200y and 500y free with hopes of similar success this week. He enters Indy as the top seed in the 500y free with a time of 4:13.37.

Swimming and Diving have been one of the many dominant Olympic Sports here in Southern California. The Trojans nine NCAA team titles all between the years 1960-1976 rank fourth most nationally and Troy has won a combined 112 NCAA event titles.

The Trojans just witnessed two of their fellow teammates Haley Anderson and Haley Ishimatsu topped the winners’ podium in the 1650y freestyle swim and platform diving, respectively. The Men’s Swimming and Diving Program brings some of the nation’s heavyweights to the pool, looking to take home Gold Medal’s for the first time since 2007.

The Trojans had two opportunities to earn a .500 record this season, including a most recent loss to Cal Berkeley on February 17th, which sent USC towards a negative spiral. In a month full of ups and downs the Trojans could not capitalize on a prime opportunity to build a winning record, which would have given them ammunition to continue some form of play this week.

Here is a look at how the final month of the season unfolded for the Trojans, who finished 1-3. They now look towards the summer to begin preparation for another campaign at the Galen Center.

March 2, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans guard Jio Fontan (1) watches game action with ice on his wrist against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the second half at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

First Game: Arizona State 57-56 Victory

The Trojans came out firing from the opening tip, seizing their momentum from an impressive victory over No. 11 Arizona State. USC then started five seniors in the contest against ASU and jumped out to an early 19-point lead over the Sun Devils. From that point forward the offense went cold, as the Trojans could only muster 29 points in the final 25 minutes of action. Eric Wise, JT Terrell and Byron Wesley scored in double figures to ensure the one-point victory.

The game itself was full of peaks and valleys as the Trojans found a way to loose numerous double-digit leads, making for desperate times at the Galen center. Fans even booed the team when the Sun Devils cut the lead to three with 53 seconds to play. Wise made some clutch free throws to secure the lead, but the Trojans almos threw the game away as Chass Bryan made a critical turnover in the final seconds. Luckily for the Trojans, redshirt freshmen Jahii Carson could not convert a half-court shot securing the home sweep of the Arizona schools.

Senior Day Festivities:

Bob Cantu pulled his classiest move as interim head coach starting five seniors in this matchup. Tyler Sugiyama and James Blasczyk were the most inspirational stories of the day, as they were the biggest underdogs to achieve on this team. Aaron Fuller also started, showcasing his ability on the offensive glass as an integral role player on this club.

Jio Fontan struggled in his final home game, injuring his wrist in the second half and battling foul trouble throughout the contest. Fontan actually fouled out with under five minutes to play, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd for his three years of hard work and gutty determination for the Trojans.

The athletic department arraigned a great pre-game activity as the seniors walked out with their parents, families and friends out to center court to take photos with Pat Haden and Bob Cantu. The fans in attendance enjoyed one final opportunity to wish goodbye their six seniors who have finished their careers with the USC Trojans.

Washington/Washington State Games:

The USC Trojans were one game under .500, with a pivotal trip to Washington in sight for a chance to clinch a top-four seed in the tournament. USC came out flat in the first half against Washington, shooting under 35-percent in the first half. Defensively the Trojans played strong basketball but could not make the key stops down the stretch.

On the verge of pulling the upset, the Trojans held their final lead of the game with 12 minutes to play before going scoreless for the next five minutes, falling too far behind to mount the classic USC comeback. This tragic collapse spurned the team forward for their final matchup against Washington State, the team with the worst record in the conference heading into the final game.

The Washington State stage was fully set, but the Trojans were anything but prepared for the matchup in Pullman. USC fell considerably behind early and watched Brock Motum and Royce Woolridge dominate the Trojans with their impressive shooting. Motum finished the night with 31 points, singlehandedly outscoring the entire USC front court and making a victory nearly impossible.

Bar Fighting Incident:

News broke over the trip that two USC players, Dewayne Dedmon and James Blasczyk, were involved in a bar fight in Spokane Washington after being out past curfew following their loss to the Cougars. The LA Times reported that two players were linked to crimes at the bar according to the investigation of the Spokane police, cementing USC’s fears that these players were in fact involved in the incident.

March 13, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans interim head coach Bob Cantu instructs against the Utah Utes during the first half in the first round of the Pac 12 tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The incident shed a negative light on the program, and gave Bob Cantu no choice but to suspend both players for the remainder of the season. We also learn that the Spokane bar was notorious for fights as other players have been provoked towards fighting alongside the two seven-footers. Either way, the scene leaves a sour note for the program that is ready to recover its already tainted image surrounding the recruiting scandal four years ago.

Pac-12 Tournament:USC vs. Utah in the first game of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Trojans dominated the Utes by double digits in their final game under Kevin O’Neill, but nothing came easy in this matchup. Both teams started off slow from the field, looking to find their groove, something that has plagued USC teams in the past.

Once the second half rolled around, Utah built two double-digit leads as the Trojans once again played carefree basketball and started shooting their way back into the ball game. A crucial 12-0 run cut the lead to one in the final minutes before senior Jarred DuBois put the Utes over the top, ending the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament chances.

Selection Sunday:

The Trojans were ineligible for the NCAA, NIT and CTI based upon their record and poor performance in the critical month of March, that previouslyhad the ability to work wonders for USC Basketball. Finally, the Trojans were not selected for the CBI Tournament, oficially ending their stake in the 2012-2013 season.

This year was full of controversy, and fading expectations for a team that actually made huge strides from their six-win campaign last season. The Trojans finish the season 14-18 with changes coming in the not too distant future as two starters leave, a head coaching search continues, and a change in philosophy could be coming for the entire basketball program.