Powerhouse Tennis Players
The USC men and women’s tennis teams netted top honors for the 2014 season with three powerhouse players named as Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Americans.
On the men’s team, doubles partners Ray Sarmiento and Yannick Hanfmann earned dual status as ITA All-Americans, having secured the honors for both singles and doubles this season. With several achievements earned as singles players, this is the first career ITA All-American doubles honor for the duo, who combined forces as the top-ranked and top-seeded pair in the NCAA Doubles Tournament this year. They finished the season ranked No. 4 in the nation as a doubles power pair.
Sarmiento, who graduated in May 2014 with a bachelor’s in sociology at USC Dornsife, ended his USC career with three NCAA championships and as the nation’s No. 7 ranked singles player. Named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, Sarmiento finishes as a five-time ITA All-American (four for singles, one for doubles) and also earned accolades with Hanfmann as the 2014 Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year.
USC Dornsife international relations major Hanfmann ended his junior year with two NCAA team titles (one for singles, one for doubles) and with a No. 5 ranking in singles. Named the 2014 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, Hanfmann started his junior season strong by winning the ITA Southwest Region Singles Championship.
USC tennis player Zoë Scandalis nets an ITA All-American honor for the 2014 season. Photo by John McGillen.
On the women’s team, Zoë Scandalis closed out her junior year ranked No. 20 in singles and with a second ITA All-American singles honors (she earned her first as a freshmen in 2012). The political economy major at USC Dornsife also boasts top-20 status in doubles as half of the nation’s No. 18 doubles team alongside partner Giuliana Olmos, who is undecided in her major. Scandalis also was a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week and reached the ITA/Riviera All-American Doubles final with Olmos.
These honors cap an exciting 2014 season for USC’s tennis program, which included a stunning national championship win by the men’s team that secured the university’s 100th NCAA title.