Good morning! What do a honey and peanut butter sandwich, dragonflies, and a book have in common? Well apparently, they all are key essentials to success out on the track. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

What all can you find in today's Brew?

🎾 Fighting on
🏝 Defending the crown
⚔️ And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Grinding It Out. Coming down from quite the emotional win this past Sunday, the Trojans had to regroup and face off against UC San Diego. USC, while much less dramatic, came away with the same outcome has a couple of days prior, with a win.

Ol’ Johnny Olmstead and Nick Lopez started things off right from the jump, with a pair of RBI singles to go with a sacrifice bunt to give the Trojans the early 3-0 lead. After surrendering a run in the top of the 3rd, Carson Wells extended the lead back to three after blasting a solo shot to go up 4-1.

From there on out, it was a pitching masterclass. Fisher Johnson came in for relief and earned the win after going 1.2 innings with zero hits and one strikeout. Three separate USC pitchers closed out the game with Garrett Clarke sending UC San Diego home in the 9th with two strikeouts of his own.

There was a bit of nail biting down the stretch, but really, there was no doubt the Trojans were coming away from this one with a win. After playing five straight at home, USC is headed on the road this weekend to take on Washington starting Friday evening.

🔼 Fighting On. The Trojans are getting ready to rumble as they head to Ojai, CA to compete for a Pac-12 title today. The No. 6 seeded Women of Troy will face off against the 11 seed Washington State.

USC comes into the tournament with a top-10 singles player in Maddy Sieg. With 25 singles wins to her name, the freshman has remained one of the best singles players in the NCAA. Sieg is also a part of the No. 17 ranked doubles teams with Eryn Cayetano paired by her side. USC as a team enters as the 26th ranked squad in the latest ITA rankings, but all that matters now is surviving and advancing.

With a win today, the Trojans would play again against the 3 seed Arizona State Sun Devils on Thursday. Stream all the tennis action on the Pac-12 Network, or follow along with the teams socials here.

🔼 Defending The Crown. Last week, the Trojans ended the regular season with a 26-3 record with a win against Loyola Marymount. This week, USC heads back to Stanford, CA to defend the court and go for back-to-back Pac-12 titles.

USC has faired well on neutral sites, going 14-2 this season. The thorn in the Trojans’ side however has been Pac-12 foe UCLA, with the Bruins taking both matches of the season. They will certainly have to overcome that hurdle if the team wants a shot at another Pac-12 championship. USC will square off against Arizona in the quarterfinals, a team that they beat earlier in the season 4-1.

With a win, head coach Dain Blanton would earn his 100th win in just four years of coaching the Trojans. Juniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple will look to capture their 13th match win in a row and twin seniors Audrey and Nicole Nourse will hope to give the Wildcats a bit of double vision with a win from the two spot.

All games will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks, or you can follow along to the team’s social accounts for live updates from the court.

🔼 Going Four It. After securing a share of the regular season title, the No. 10 Trojans will begin the road to glory to try and capture their fourth consecutive Pac-12 title.

After earning a first-round bye, the Trojans, as the one seed, will await the winner of the Arizona State/Oregon matchup to begin their tournament play on Thursday. USC boasts four singles in the national rankings with senior Stefan Dostanic leading the pack at No. 32. Dostanic is also one-half of one of the top-15 doubles teams in the nation, paired with grad student Bradley Frye.

After allowing just one point in three total matches en route to last year’s Pac-12 title, it’s hard to believe that this year will look any different. Stay tuned to all the tennis action on the Pac-12 Networks to see if the Trojans can win it all yet again!

🤔 TROJAN TRIVIA

Talking ‘Ships. There’s Pac-12 Championship action happening all around USC this week with both the men’s and women’s teams competing for a title. A conference title is sweet, but a national championship is much much sweeter.

Our question today—how many tennis championships, between both the men and women, does USC have in total?

Think you got it? Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

⚔️ ONE BIG THING

After winning a Pac-12 title and competing in an LPGA major, Amari Avery was announced to the U.S. team for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup as a coach’s selection. The Ryder-Cup style tournament features both men’s and women’s collegiate members and pits them against their international counterparts.

Avery was recently named to the All-Pac-12 first team, led USC with a stroke average of 71.8 per round, and finished the year with a team best 15 rounds under par. She also is coming off the Chevron Championship, an LPGA event, where she was just one of two amateurs to make the cut.

The event is set for June 8th and will go through the 10th up in Pennsylvania at the Laurel Valley Golf Club. Fight on Amari!

📬 STICK WITH US

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📅 THE DAY AHEAD

Wednesday 4/26

🏝 Beach Volleyball vs. Arizona in Stanford, CA

🎾 Women’s Tennis vs. Washington State in Ojai, CA

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 28 national championships!

The men currently hold 21 while the women have 7. The last national championship for either tennis program came back in 2014 when the men’s team won it all. Who’s to say we can’t get another one this year?

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!