PRIYA COOPER / SPORTS EDITOR

CADEN HAYNOR / NEWS EDITOR

USD men’s tennis hosted two NCAA tournament games this past weekend. The first game was against University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the second was against University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). The Toreros won both games at Hogan Tennis Center and made history on Saturday, May 2 by advancing to the program’s first-ever NCAA Sweet 16.

Men’s tennis celebrates after advancing to the next round of NCAA Tournament play. Photo courtesy of @ usd_tennis/ Instagram

The No. 15-seeded Toreros opened the weekend with a win over UCSB in front of a crowd of 602 people, securing a first-round NCAA victory for the fifth consecutive year. The final score of the match was 4-2.

Teams   compete    in   three doubles matches and six singles matches, each assigned by lineup position rather than overall ranking. No. 1 represents each team’s top lineup spot, No. 2 the next strongest, and so on down the order so matches are determined  by  coaching   strategy and depth across the roster, not just national  rankings.

    USD won the doubles point by taking both completed matches at No. 1 and No. 3, while No. 2 doubles went unfinished, giving them an early 1–0 lead. In singles, they continued to build control with key wins at No. 1, No. 5, and No. 6 in straight sets, plus a three-set victory at No. 2, while UCSB picked up wins at No. 4 and left  one match unfinished. Because USD reached the required number of points first, the remaining matches were stopped, and the Toreros clinched the overall victory.

  All-American seniors Stian Klaassen and Oliver Tarvet led the way playing the doubles court together at No. 2 to get things started. USD senior Oliver “Ollie” Tarvet, co-captain and WCC 3-peat player of the season shared his feelings about the win. 

“I remember telling these boys ‘I’m not ready to be done with college tennis yet, And they were like, ‘yeah, this isn’t the day.’ So, I feel like there’s a lot of pressure associated with the NCAA and I feel like we really lead into that pressure really well and, you know, face that adversity as a challenge and not a threat… In the huddle before we played, our head coach told us to just go out there and take it, don’t expect anything to be given to you, you need to go out there and play tennis on your terms.”

In past seasons, USD had repeatedly fallen in the second round of NCAA tournament play, including four losses to USC and two to UCLA. However, Saturday’s 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship matchup broke that pattern. And 434 fans watched the Toreros sweep 20th-ranked UCLA. The final score of the match was 4-0. 

In the game against UCLA, USD set the tone by winning the doubles point, taking two of the three matches against UCLA and gaining an early 1–0 lead in the team score. In singles, the Toreros dominated key courts with straight-set victories at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4, showing clear control in the matchups that were completed.While several other matches were left unfinished once the overall outcome was no longer in doubt.

In college tennis, the team result is decided by combining one doubles point — awarded to the team that wins at least two of three doubles matches — and six singles matches worth one point each. 

Since USD had already secured enough singles wins to clinch the majority of available points, the  remaining  unfinished matches stopped once the team victory was decided. This means USD not only beat UCLA in individual matches, but USD also won the overall team dual match by reaching the required number of points first.

Upon  winning  both  matches and making it on the the Sweet 16 for the first time in history, all members of the men’s tennis team were forced to shave their heads to mark the victory. 

On the shaved heads, Ollie described  how  he  sees his shaved head as more of a representation of his accomplishments than a punishment. 

“It’s just really special and something that I get to remember now for three to four months because every time I look in the mirror, I get to see what we achieved. This symbolizes not just us reaching the Sweet 16, but all the hard work we put in… I had a lot of joy hearing that razor hit my head and it was just a really special moment.”

The   next game is set for May 8 at 4 p.m. in Austin, Texas. Texas is a top-ranked No. 2 national seed and swept away No. 32  SMU at home with a final score  of    4-0  this  past  weekend.

The men’s tennis team is off to the Sweet 16 after back-to-back NCAA home wins against UCSB and UCLA. Photo courtesy of @usd_tennis/Instagram