SAN DIEGO — 7th ranked San Diego men's tennis showcased their team strength on Thursday afternoon as they took down the 21st ranked USC Trojans 4-1 in a resilient team win without their number one singles player in Oliver Tarvet.

The victory marked the Toreros' first over the Trojans since 2006, snapping a 21-match losing streak to USC as San Diego defeated the 21-time national champions.   

The win started in the doubles point, when Iiro Vasa and Neo Niedner defeated their opponents 6-2 to win the first match of doubles. After Stian Klaassen and Savriyan Danilov fell on court one 4-6, Nikhil Niranjan and Adrien Berrut recovered and sealed the doubles point for USD with a 6-3 win. 

"Incredibly proud of this Torero team for their fight and grit today," head coach Ryan Keckley said after the match. "It's been a long season thus far with the amount of travel, and to come up with the goods against USC on a short week says a lot about the leadership and heart of this group.  USC is a young squad with a lot of talent.  They are well coached and we knew it was going to be a battle, especially without Ollie holding down the number one spot. Our experience and home court advantage paid off in the end as senior leader Iiro Vasa clinched the match for the group.  Congrats are in order to Neo and Stian for getting us additional points on the board.  We will take some much-needed time away from the courts this weekend and get back on track next week as we host the Ed Collins Classic."

In singles play, the Toreros fell behind on three courts in first sets but were undeterred, as USD fought back in two out of three of those courts to force a third set. 

Niedner was the first to take his match in singles for San Diego, defeating his opponent in straight sets (6-4, 6-3) to extend the USD lead to 2-0. 

Niranjan was in the lineup at number six singles for the second consecutive match due to Tarvet being out, and ultimately fell by 7-5 and 6-2 margins. 

After winning a clutch 7-5 tiebreaker in set one, Klaassen did not look back in number three singles, beating his opponent 6-4 in the second set which moved the total score to 3-1 in favor of USD. 

The Toreros only needed one more point to secure the victory with three more courts to play, all of which were heading to third sets. The deciding point came on court two as Vasa completed the come-from-behind victory by routing his opponent 6-4 in both sets two and three, after falling 7-5 in set one. 

While Danilov and Berrut's matches ultimately went unfinished in their respective third sets, they did not let the Trojans stay in the fight. Danilov dropped his first set 3-6, won the second 6-2, and was in a 4-4 tie when his match got cut short. Berrut won his first set 7-5, lost 5-7 in the second, and was in a 2-3 battle in the final set before it went unfinished. 

USD will be back in action starting on March 7th as they host the Ed Collins Invitational. The event will run from Friday to Sunday at the Hogan Tennis Center.