April 13, 2007
HOUSTON, Texas (SMU) - The SMU men's tennis team upset No. 27 Rice this afternoon, 4-3, and have now won eight straight matches, advancing their record to 15-8. Due to the rain in Houston, the match was forced indoors and the competition began with singles. The Mustangs took three wins in singles, forcing the teams to play doubles as SMU clinched two victories, securing the point and the Mustang win.
"That was a fantastic match," said head coach Carl Neufeld. "We played some of the best doubles all year. It was an important match and a good match to win. Rice is a good team, they have competed evenly with some of the top teams in the country this season and to beat them on their courts is exciting. I'm so proud of how the guys played and that we are continuing to improve."
The Mustangs posted wins in singles at the No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 slots, coming out of singles tied and forcing the match to be decided on the doubles point. At No. 3, Oivind Alver was unable to overturn Christoph Müller as he fell, 6-4, 6-4, and Federico Murgier was unable to get past Tobias Scheil at No. 4 as he fell, 6-2, 6-2.
The Mustangs then secured two consecutive wins as Alex Skrypko notched the first Mustang point when he topped No. 28 Ben Harknett at No. 1, 6-3, 6-4. Robin Fahgen leveled the playing field when he powered past Jason Mok at No. 5, 6-3, 6-2. David Kuczer fell in a hard fought match-up against No. 95 Ralph Knupfer at No. 2, 7-6, 6-4, but Adolfo Solares battled back in the final two sets against Hoony Shin to take the three set win at No. 6 singles, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0, and keep the Mustangs alive.
In doubles, Alver and Fahgen put up a fight but fell to Harknett and Muller at No. 2, 8-3. The other two SMU tandems played solid to power the Mustangs forward. Murgier and Skrypko paired for an 8-4 win over the No. 59 duo of Knupfer and Scheil at No. 1 while Kuczer and Solares sealed the Mustang win when they took the 8-5 decision over Dennis Polyakov and Mok at No. 3.
This was the last away match for the Mustangs before the Conference USA Championships. They return home to host Florida Atlantic on Tues., April 17 at the Bent Tree Country Club with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m. SMU will then head back to Houston for the C-USA Championship which Rice is hosting April 20-22.
Tennis Match ResultsSMU vs RiceApr 13, 2007 at Houston, Texas
#61 SMU 4, #27 Rice 3
Singles competition1. #72 Alex Skrypko (SMU) def. #28 Ben Harknett (RICE) 6-3, 6-42. #95 Ralph Knupfer (RICE) def. David Kuczer (SMU) 7-6, 6-43. Christoph Müller (RICE) def. Oivind Alver (SMU) 6-4, 6-44. Tobias Scheil (RICE) def. Federico Murgier (SMU) 6-2, 6-25. Robin Fahgen (SMU) def. Jason Mok (RICE) 6-3, 6-26. Adolfo Solares (SMU) def. Hoony Shin (RICE) 6-7, 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition1. Alex Skrypko/Federico Murgier (SMU) def. #59 Ralph Knupfer/Tobias Scheil (RICE) 8-42. Ben Harknett/Christoph Müller (RICE) def. Oivind Alver/Robin Fahgen (SMU) 8-33. David Kuczer/Adolfo Solares (SMU) def. Dennis Polyakov/Jason Mok (RICE) 8-5
Match Notes:SMU 15-8 (1-1 C-USA); National ranking #61Rice 13-9; National ranking #27Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,1,5,2,6)
