April 21, 2006

Tulsa, Okla. (SMU) - No. 2 seed SMU moved on to the semifinals of the 2006 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship with a 4-0 victory over No. 7 seed East Carolina in the fourth quarterfinal at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. With the victory, the 35th-ranked Mustangs have reached the semifinal round of their respective conference tournament for 10 straight years.

SMU will face championship host and No. 3 seed Tulsa as the top four seeds all advanced to Saturday's semifinals marking the first time that has occurred since the 2003 championship.

Sophomore Alex Skrypko picked up a doubles win with partner David Kuczer and then clinched the SMU victory with his singles win over East Carolina's Aleksey Kochetov, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Skrypko, the 48th-ranked player in the country, is undefeated this season playing in the No. 1 spot for the Mustangs.

"East Carolina was a tough team," SMU head coach Carl Neufeld said. "I was happy we won the doubles. The matches at the bottom of the lineup were very competitive. (Alex Skrypko) had some solid points. He has played only a few matches at No. 1 and he is undefeated at No. 1."

Federico Murgier and Henrik Soderberg added the other doubles match victory with an 8-5 decision over Mike Catalano and Henrique Viana. Oivind Alver and Soderberg, playing in the the No. 5 and No. 6 slots respectively for the Mustangs, picked up the other singles points. Alver won his match over Brian Walters 6-4, 6-1, while Soderberg defeated Catalano 6-3, 6-3.

The Mustangs-Golden Hurricane match is slated for 3 p.m. and will be a rematch of a contest won by SMU, 4-3, on April 14. The rematch will also be the first time the two schools have met in a conference tournament since the 2002 when SMU won the WAC title with a 4-1 victory. Top-seed Rice and UAB square off in the first semifinal, which is set for 12 p.m. CT at the Case Center.

Match #4 - 5:00 p.m. -(2) SMU def. (7) East Carolina, 4-2
Singles#48 Alex Skrypko (SMU) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2#56 Peter Oredsson (SMU) vs. Henrique Viana (ECU), dnfDavid Kuczer (SMU) vs. Ricardo Barone (ECU), dnfOivind Alver (SMU) vs. Nick Rose (ECU), dnfHenrik Soderberg (SMU) def. Brian Walters (ECU), 6-4, 6-1Yevgen Ryeznik (SMU) def. Mike Catalano (ECU), 6-3, 6-3
DoublesSkrypko/Kuczer (SMU) def. Barone/Kochetov (ECU), 8-5Alver/Oredsson (SMU) vs. Rose/Walters (ECU), dnfMurgier/Soderberg (SMU) dnf. Catalano/Viana (ECU), 8-3