Feb. 16, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (SMU)-SMU men's tennis (6-4) lost (6-1) to the Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-1) on the road at the Baseline Tennis Center by a margin of 6-1.

Mustang doubles tandem junior Robin Fahgen and Gaston Cuadranti had the performance of the night for SMU, toppling (8-7) Minnesota's No. 22 doubles pair of Sebastian Gallego and Dino Bilankov.

Sophomore Mustang Artem Baradach recorded the lone singles victory for SMU, knocking off Gallego in a third-set tiebreaker (3-6, 6-3, 10-5). Baradach improved his individual singles record to 8-2 for the season.

"Artem played his personal best to emerge with the win against Gallego, a player that has annually given us trouble," said head coach Carl Neufeld. "We played very well, though the score might not be indicative of this. Really, what it comes down to is that we are plagued with injury. Regardless, I am very proud of the guys."

The No. 46 Mustangs will return to action on Sunday in Tulsa, Oklahoma at 2:00 p.m. to take on the No. 12 Tulsa Golden Hurricane at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Minnesota 6, Southern Methodist 1
Doubles1. #26 Tobias Wernet-Michael Sicora (MINN) def. Artem Baradach-Bryan Griffin (SMU) 8-32. Ishay Hadash-Phillip Arndt (MINN) def. Adham el-Effendi-David Costa (SMU) 8-23. Gaston Cuadranti-Robin Fahgen (SMU) def. #22 Sebastian Gallego-Dino Bilankov (MINN) 8-7 (5)
Singles1. Hadash (MINN) def. Fahgen (SMU) 6-3, 6-22. #75 Wernet (MINN) def. Costa (SMU) 6-3, 6-13. #118 Baradach (SMU) def. Gallego (MINN) 3-6, 6-3, (10-5)4. Arndt (MINN) def. Griffin (SMU) 6-1, 6-25. Sicora (MINN) def. el-Effendi (SMU) 6-3, 6-46. Bilankov (MINN) def. Cuadranti (SMU) 6-3, 7-5