Oct. 24, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas (SMU)--The men's tennis team competed well at the ITA South Central Regional Championships this weekend, highlighted by sophomore Robin Fahgen's advance to the quarterfinal round of the main draw.

Fahgen started his run by knocking off Louisiana-Lafayette's Arlen Domoney in straight sets (6-2, 6-4), advancing him to the field of 64. He then beat Miguel Varela of Texas (7-6, 4-1 Ret (inj.)) to move on to the field of 32, where he upset ninth-seeded Matt Brown of Baylor (6-4, 5-7, 6-4) to advance to the field of 16. Fahgen then beat David Galic of Baylor (6-3, 5-7, 6-3) and moved on to the quarterfinal round, where he was eliminated by Texas' Luis Diaz Barriga (7-6, 6-0).

"Robin played extremely well this weekend," said head coach Carl Neufeld. "Against Brown, he played for three hours and 25 minutes. In his next match, he played for over two hours. He played almost six hours of tennis Sunday, which is the most tennis I have ever seen anyone play in one day of singles."

In the main draw, senior David Kuczer advanced as far as the round of 32, knocking off Texas-Pan American's Brett Bernstein in the first round (6-3, 6-1) and Michael Breler of Texas Tech (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) in the second. Kuczer then faced fourth-seeded Conor Pollock of Texas A&M, who defeated Kuczer in straight sets (6-1, 6-2).

In the consolation bracket, Adolfo Solares was defeated by TAMU-CC's Dmitry Novikov (6-3, 7-5).

Overall, Neufeld was pleased with his team's performance.

"I thought the guys played great tennis," said Neufeld. "Fahgen is emerging as one of the top players in the region. It was a fantastic weekend."

The ITA South Central Regional Championships wrapped up the Mustangs' fall season. SMU men's tennis will be back in action starting in January. For the complete schedule and results, log on to SMUMustangs.com.