Feb. 10, 2008
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (SMU)--The SMU men's tennis team (5-2) nearly upset No. 9 Notre Dame Sunday. The Fighting Irish just squeaked past the Mustangs, 4-3.
The Mustangs battled through three tough doubles matches, but Notre Dame picked up the point by winning all three.
In singles, though, SMU challenged the Irish and nearly pulled off a huge upset. Oivind Alver kicked off the singles competition for the Mustangs at No. 4, taking on Stephen Havens. Alver played hard through the first set, keeping it close, but dropped the match 6-4, 6-0, putting the Irish up by two.
But the next two points belonged to the Mustangs. Robin Fahgen, playing at No. 1, upset his second nationally-ranked opponent of the season, beating No. 11 Brett Helgeson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Fahgen remains undefeated this season in singles play. Adolfo Solares won his match over David Anderson at No. 5, battling through two extra-point sets, but taking both, 7-5, 7-5. Solares' win tied the match at two apiece. In the six slot, Chris Hooshyar sent his match to three sets, but ultimately lost to Daniel Stahl, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, putting the Irish ahead, 3-2.
Alex Skrypko dropped his first set to Andrew Roth, 4-6, but came back to win two straight extra-point sets, 7-5, 7-5, at No. 3. With the match tied at three all, No. 81 David Kuczer was set to take on Sheeva Parbhu at No. 2. Kuczer dropped the first set 7-6 (7-5), but fought back to win the second, 6-4. Parbhu dug deep and pulled out a 6-1 win in the decisive third set.
"We played awesome," said head coach Carl Neufeld. "I'm so proud of these guys. We took the number nine team down to the wire. As a team, we played fantastic tennis and took a big step forward. We're excited about the rest of the season and are still working toward our goal of constant improvement on the way to playing our best tennis at the end of the season."
The Mustangs are back in action Friday, Feb. 15 as they host Arkansas-Little Rock at the Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas (maps, directions). For the complete schedule and results, log on to SMUMustangs.com.
Notre Dame 4, SMU 3
Doubles:
1. Brett Helgeson/Sheeva Parbhu (ND) def. Alex Skrypko/Robin Fahgen (SMU) 8-4
2. Andrew Roth/Stephen Havens (ND) def. David Kuczer/Adolfo Solares (SMU) 8-5
3. Tyler Davis/Santiago Montoya (ND) def. Oivind Alver/Chris Hooshyar (SMU) 8-5
Singles:
1. Robin Fahgen (SMU) def. #11 Brett Helgeson (ND) 6-2, 6-4
2. Sheeva Parbhu (ND) def. #81 David Kuczer (SMU) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-1
3. Alex Skrypko (SMU) def. Andrew Roth (ND) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
4. Stephen Havens (ND) def. Oivind Alver (SMU) 6-4, 6-0
5. Adolfo Solares (SMU) def. David Anderson (ND) 7-5, 7-5
6. Daniel Stahl (ND) def. Chris Hooshyar (SMU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,1,5,6,3,2)
