March 8, 2009

DALLAS (SMU)-SMU men's tennis improved to 9-7 after defeating (6-1) Oral Roberts (1-5) on Saturday, March 7 at Turpin Tennis Stadium, sweeping doubles and dropping one singles match, and earning the win over UC-Santa Barbara on Sunday in a close-fought match (4-3).

Against Oral Roberts, No. 48 Mustang tandem sophomores Darren Walsh and Adham el-Effendi trounced (8-2) Andrey Savin and Alexander Dargel at the number two spot, while sophomore Artem Baradach and junior Chris Hooshyar fought through a tiebreaker (8-7) to win at the top spot.

In singles, Hooshyar triumphed again in a double-set tiebreaker (6-3, 5-7, 10-3) against Dargel. Playing at the number four spot, sophomore Bryan Griffin outlasted Dario Beslic in a first set tiebreaker to go on to win the match (7-6, 6-2). el-Effendi and freshman Gaston Cuadranti dispatched their opponents in easy straight set matches, as well.

On Sunday, the Mustangs faced a bigger challenge, edging out UC-Santa Barbara for the win. SMU secured the doubles point, with Walsh and el-Effendi defeating Hohenstein and Jurgensen for their tenth consecutive win (8-6).

No. 58 senior Robin Fahgen played in the number one spot for the Mustangs, beating out Alex Konigsfeldt in straight sets (6-4, 6-4). Baradach handled business at number two, winning a first set tiebreaker and easing through the second set for the win (7-5, 6-4). Walsh collected the final Mustang win to claim the match, dropping Taylor Goggin (6-2, 6-4).

The Mustangs next face Columbia on Wednesday, March 18 at Turpin Tennis Stadium at 12:00 p.m.