March 7, 2007
FT. WORTH, Texas (SMU) - The SMU men's tennis team defeated cross-town rival TCU tonight, 4-3, in a late night thriller. The Mustangs powered through clinching the doubles point and taking wins at No. 4, 5, and 6 singles including a come-from-behind 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win by Oivind Alver at No. 4 singles to claim the victory for the Mustangs.
"Since we were playing without one of our top players Robin Fahgen due to injury, this was a fantastic effort by the guys in both singles and doubles," said head coach Carl Neufeld. "Playing without him, forced us to change our doubles line-up and Adolfo Solares stepped in and played great in both doubles and singles."
The Mustangs took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Chris Hooshyar and David Kuczer commanded an 8-1 win over Chris Biro and Caleb Bulls at No. 3. Federico Murgier and Alex Skrypko were unable to upend Cosmin Cotet and Kriegler Brink, 8-5, at the No. 1 slot but Adolfo Solares and Oivind Alver sealed the doubles point as they took an 8-4 win over Andrew Ulrich and Stuart Row.
In singles action, Murgier fell, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 3 spot to Brink. Solares boasted the Mustangs back up a point as he defeated Row, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 6 position. Hooshyar demanded a 6-4, 6-0 win over Bulls at the No. 5 singles to bring SMU ahead, 3-1. Skrypko was unable to overturn Cotet at No. 1 as he fell, 7-6, 6-4, and Kuczer could not power past Biro as he fell, 6-4, 7-6, at the No. 2 position. With the score tied at three all, the match came down to the No. 4 singles between Alver and TCU's Ulrich. While Ulrich took the first set, Alver battled back in the first set. With the split sets, the match came down to point-to-point between the two in the third set. Alver dug deep to clinch the win for the Mustangs as he took the third-set win, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
"This match-up is always pressure packed with all the excitement the TCU fans bring," Neufeld noted. "I'm really proud of Oivind Alver, who won the deciding point. After being down 4-3 in the third set with the break point against him and on second serve, he showed resilience although the match, but especially from that point on played fantastic tennis to win the third set 6-4 and capture the win for the Mustangs."
The Mustangs will play their first conference match of the season as they take on Tulsa March 11 at 11:00 a.m. at the Lakewood Country Club. They will then face Columbia at home at noon on March 13th at the Bent Tree Country Club before taking to the roads.
Tennis Match ResultsSMU vs TCU MenMar 07, 2007 at Fort Worth, Texas
#65 SMU 4, #66 TCU Men 3 Singles competition1. Cosmin Cotet (TCU) def. #43 Alex Skrypko (SMU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-42. Chris Biro (TCU) def. David Kuczer (SMU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)3. Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Federico Murgier (SMU) 6-2, 6-14. Oivind Alver (SMU) def. Andrew Ulrich (TCU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-45. Chris Hooshyar (SMU) def. Caleb Bulls (TCU) 6-4, 6-06. Adolfo Solares (SMU) def. Stuart Row (TCU) 6-2, 6-4 Doubles competition1. Cosmin Cotet/Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Federico Murgier/Alex Skrypko (SMU) 8-52. Adolfo Solares/Oivind Alver (SMU) def. Andrew Ulrich/Stuart Row (TCU) 8-43. Chris Hooshyar/David Kuczer (SMU) def. Chris Biro/Caleb Bulls (TCU) 8-1Match Notes:SMU 5-5; National ranking #65TCU Men 1-5; National ranking #66Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,6,5,1,2,4)
