MORAGA, Calif. – The Gaels will travel south this weekend as they continue their spring schedule with matches versus USC and UCLA.

First, SMC will take on the Trojans on Friday, January 31 with the competition beginning at 3:00 p.m. before they go head-to-head with UCLA on Saturday, February 1 at 12:00 p.m.

The Gaels have been picked to finish fourth in the conference with 56 points, trailing only Pepperdine, San Diego, and Loyola Marymount, respectively in the WCC preseason polls. Junior Mariia Kozyreva was named to her second straight All-WCC preseason team after making First Team in both singles and doubles as a sophomore in the spring. Kozyreva ranks as the No. 15 singles player in the country heading into spring. At the ITA Fall Championships, she battled through two close sets to pull out a 6-4, 7-6(7) victory over No. 37 Vivian Wolff from Georgia to earn the consolation singles title. After dropping her first match of the tournament, Kozyreva won her next five and took down three ranked opponents in her championship run. 

USC
Last season, the Trojans went 20-8 overall with a Pac-12 conference record of 7-3. The team was 10-3 at home during the Spring with their only home court losses occurring against Stanford, Pepperdine, and UCLA. At the midway point in the season, the Trojans went on a nine-match win streak beginning on February 26 against San Diego State and ending on March 30 when they finally lost to the Cardinal. USC made it through the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, however they eventually fell to South Carolina. When USC and SMC faced each other last, it was the Trojans who won 4-0 on March 3, 2019.

UCLA
During the 2018-19 season, the Bruins went 21-8 and ended 8-2 in the Pac-12 conference. UCLA made it through their first two contests in the Pac-12 Championships before falling to Stanford 4-2. At the NCAA Tournament, the Bruins took three straight wins against Northern Arizona, LSU, and Washington before losing 4-1 against North Carolina. Their longest winning streak of the season was their first as they opened the Spring schedule with four straight wins before taking their first loss. Last time the Gaels and the Bruins met, it was UCLA that took the 4-0 win on February 22, 2019.