The men’s Golden Hurricane tennis team traveled to Southern California to play against the USC Trojans, and shocked the tennis world with an upset over the No. 1 team in the country.
USC is one of the strongest tennis teams in recent history, winning five national championships in the last six years, and came into the match as the heavy favorites. Tulsa had to fight an uphill battle after being swept in the doubles matches and losing the doubles point to the Trojans.
Or Ram-Harel, who recently was ranked 71st in the country by the Tennis Association Singles Poll, faced off against the Trojan’s best player, No. 6 Yannick Hanfmann who hasn’t lost a game this season. In the biggest upset of the match, Ram-Harel beat Hanfmann in straight sets (meaning swept) 6–3, 6–2, handing him his first loss of the season.
The Trojans picked up the next point and held a 2–1 lead over the Hurricane until Alejandro Espejo handed No. 20 Roberto Quiroz in straight sets handing Quiroz only his second loss of the season.
After Dylan McCloskey put the Hurricane up 3–2, Mitchell Pritchard had an intense three-set win over Rob Bellamy, giving the Hurricane their most memorable win in program history. After the match was won, the Trojans and the Hurricane finished the last match, which Carlos Bautista narrowly lost against No. 72 Max de Vroom.
The win put Tulsa at 9–6 on the season, and gave USC their second loss of the season, putting their record at 10–2.
