March 17, 2010

A legacy of excellence had already been built by senior Javier Tori even before last week. The school's all-time wins leader in singles and doubles wins, Tori sets a new record every time he wins on the court. And win he does.

Four more singles wins and four more doubles wins despite playing against opponents from two nationally-ranked teams and one regionally-ranked one helped Tori earn his school-record fourth career Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week award on Wednesday. It is also Tori's second weekly award of the season, establishing another school record.

Meanwhile, the Spartans (11-5 overall) reentered the national rankings for the first time since late February, reentering the ITA rankings that were released on Tuesday at 68th. Upstate has won 11 of its last 13 matches, including a 4-3 upset of No. 45 San Diego, helping it reenter the rankings after entering the spring ranked 72nd.

Tori led USC Upstate on its California road trip with a perfect record, becoming the first player in Spartan history to reach 150 career combined wins in the process. The senior posted a three-set, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, win against No. 45 San Diego's Thibaut Visy to clinch USC Upstate's, 4-3 win, to secure the biggest upset in the school's D-I era. The Lima, Peru native also won his doubles match versus the Torreros, 9-7.

Tori won both a singles and doubles match in a 5-2 win against Loyola Marymount and then recorded a doubles win with Airaldi versus No. 48 UC Irvine at No. 1, in addition to a three-set singles win.

The Lima, Peru native wrapped up week by beating the Northeast Region's No. 8 doubles pairing of Joel Samaha and Erik BlumenKranz, 8-6, with Airaldi for his 80th career doubles victory. Tori posted another three-set win, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-2, at No. 3 singles to clinch USC Upstate's win against Yale, ranked seventh in the Northeast Region.

Upstate has one more full day to rest before a huge Atlantic Sun Conference match against No. 49 ETSU on Friday at 2 p.m. in Johnson City, Tenn., as the Spartans will look to snap ETSU's 47-match winning streak at the Buddy Hartsell Tennis Center.