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COACH LEACH ON RAINEY:
"Nick won the Regional consolation bracket for the second year in a row and is playing extremely well right now as we start the season. Other teams are going to have to play awfully well in order to beat him."
THIS SEASON:
As the 2000 NCAA Doubles Championship Runner-Up, Nick Rainey enters his third season at USC ... This fall he competed at the WTT Coed Collegiate Championship, SCTA Championships and Rolex Regional in singles and doubles ... In singles, he fell to the consolation round at the ITA Rolex Regionals and went on to win the backdraw championship ... He, and partner Ryan Moore, won the SoCal Intercollegiate Championship ... Begins the season ranked No. 8 in doubles and No. 56 in singles.
2000:
With only 11 losses on the season, Rainey was one of the most consistent players in 2000 ... The sophomore finished with a 28-11 record overall and 19-7 mark in dual matches ... After falling into the back draw at the ITA Regionals, he went on to win the consolation round by defeating Sean Cooper of San Diego ... Throughout the dual match season, he played mainly at the No. 4 and 5 positions, and played at No. 3 on two occasions ... His longest win streak came in March as he won six consecutive matches (March 10-14) ... With a loss to Jean-Julien of UCLA to break the streak, Rainey went on to finish the regular season with a 4-2 record ... He reached the second round of the Pac-10 Tournament singles competition, and the quarterfinals in doubles ... He earned two singles wins in the NCAA Team Tournament, including a victory over Rob Cheyne of Fresno State, avenging an earlier regular season loss which cost USC a dual match victory over the Bulldogs ... As one of the top-five doubles pairs in the country, he and Moore earned 2000 ITA All-American honors ... They finished the season with a 33-11 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Championship Finals before falling to Franklin and Oliver of Illinois ... In the fall, the duo claimed the Fresno State Bulldog Classic and SCTA Tournament Championship.
1999:
After entering USC in January as a freshman, Rainey claimed a spot in the bottom half of the singles ladder ... He went 19-8 overall and 17-6 in dual matches ... He went a team-best 5-2 in Pac-10 dual matches ... In doubles, Rainey went 19-9 overall and 16-7 in duals ... He and Moore had an 11-1 overall record and a final national doubles ranking of No. 23 ... The two reached the final of the NCTC Tournament in January.
PREP EXPERIENCE:
Rainey graduated in December of 1998 from the Weil College Prep in Ojai, Calif., where he spent a year and a half ... Previously, he spent two years at Mercer Island (Wash.) High, where he was the 1996 Washington state AAA doubles champion ... In 1997, he reached the finals of the Washington AAA singles tournament ... He led Mercer Island to Washington state AAA team championships in tennis in 1996 and 1997 ... Rainey spent most of 1998 playing in USTA events and finished ranked in the top 10 in the 18-and-under singles rankings ... At the USTA International Grass Court Championships in Philadelphia, Rainey was the 18-and-under singles and doubles champion ... At the USTA National Clay Court Championships in Louisville, he was a finalist in the 18-and-under doubles competition ... Rainey was also the 18-and-under singles champion at the Copper Bowl Tournament in Tucson.
PERSONAL:
Nicholas Rainey was born on Dec. 7, 1980 in Santa Monica, Calif. ... The son of Larry and Marcia Rainey ... He enjoys golf, basketball and reading in his spare time ... He is a business major.
