The No. 42 Stanford men’s tennis team dropped another pair of matches this weekend. Stanford fell 4-2 to No. 9 UCLA Friday before losing to No. 6 USC on Saturday by a score of 5-1.

The Bruins and Trojans moved to 2-0 and 5-0 on the season, respectively, while the Cardinal dropped to 0-4.

Against UCLA, the team split the first two doubles matches. The doubles point subsequently came down to the No. 1 doubles match-up, in which junior Blake Muller and freshman Alex Clayton were in a heated battle with UCLA’s Nick Meister and Harel Srugo.

The teams traded games until it was tied 8-8, sending the match into a tiebreaker. Srugo and Meister came out on top, 7-4, capturing the doubles point for the Bruins.

From there, the Cardinal would win only two singles matches. Muller put Stanford on the board with an easy victory over Michael Look, 6-0, 6-3, while Clayton followed with a win over Holden Seguso, 7-6, 6-3. Those were the only points that the team earned, however, as UCLA swept through the rest of the Cardinal lineup.

At No. 1 singles, junior Matt Bruch was up a set on Srugo, but the match was aborted because UCLA had already won 4 points to seal the victory.

Sophomore Richard Wire and freshman Greg Hirshman were the victors at No. 3 doubles, but their efforts did not result in points for the team.

“We are working well together,” Wire said. “And we are proving a tough team to beat.

It was a shame we couldn’t get the doubles point, as it was pivotal.”

On Saturday, the Cardinal was again beaten by a tough team, this time the USC Trojans. Rain interrupted the match a few times, but the teams were able to get all the singles play in. The Trojans took a 5-1 lead in singles, making the doubles point unnecessary in the rainy weather.

Stanford’s only point came at No. 1 singles. Clayton, the second-ranked player in the nation, dominated the Trojans’ No. 9 Robert Farah, 6-3, 6-1.

“Alex is ranked number two, and rightfully so, he’s a very good player,” head coach John Whitlinger told GoStanford.com. “Farah has done a great job this year, and this was a very good win for Alex. He’s capable of beating anybody.”

Stanford also got two great efforts out of Wire and Muller on Saturday. At No. 2 singles, Wire pushed USC’s Kaes Van’t Hof to a tiebreak in the first set but didn’t have enough to finish him off. Wire lost the match 7-6, 6-4. Muller played No. 42 Gary Sacks at No. 3 singles but fell as well, 6-3, 6-4.

“[Blake and Richard] came up a little short today,” Whitlinger said. “But I really like how both of them are playing right now.”

It did not seem that Stanford was highly overmatched — a few pivotal points turned out to be the difference.

“There was nothing [different] between me and my opponents,” Wire said. “But [they] played better on the big points.”

The Cardinal is now through the toughest part of its schedule. After playing four ranked teams — three of which were in the top 10 — Stanford will not face another stretch like this for quite a while.

“As a team, we’ll get better as the season goes on,” said Whitlinger. “The team will feed off a performance like this.”

Stanford continues its home stand this Wednesday when it faces the University of Hawai’i; the Cardinal should have high hopes, already having beaten the Rainbow Warriors 5-1 earlier this season in a fall exhibition match. The contest begins 1:30 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Center.