Friday, April 13
Dallas, Texas
4:30 p.m.
SMU
vs
Tulsa
Mustangs Face Tulsa, Rice in Final Dual Matches
Apr 11 | Men's Tennis
Men's Tennis will hold Senior Day on Friday vs. Tulsa.
DALLAS (SMU) -Â The Mustangs will finish dual match season with a home match against Tulsa on Friday, April 13, at 4:30 p.m. before traveling to Houston for the final match against Rice on Sunday, April 15, at 11 a.m. SMU will hold Senior Day celebrations for the team's two graduating seniors on Friday vs. Tulsa.
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The Mustangs (8-16) are coming off a big 4-3 win over UT Arlington last Sunday. The victory snapped an eight-match slide and was the 600th career victory for head coach Carl Neufeld. The Mustangs rallied in singles after losing the doubles point to the Mavericks. Jan-Simon Vrbsky recorded his 11th win of the season with a win at No. 2 and holds the team's best singles record at 11-8.
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SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Tulsa comes to Dallas with a 10-15 record and one conference win over USF. Two of the Golden Hurricane's players are nationally ranked in singles, No. 102 Joshua Goodger and No. 114 Majed Kilani. Goodger partners with Jarod Hing for the No. 62 ranking.
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Rice (9-15) boasts a freshman-heavy lineup similar to that of the Mustangs. Redshirt sophomore Eric Rutledge leads the Owls with a 12-5 dual match record, played mostly at No. 1. Rutledge partners with freshman Sumit Sarkar for a team-best 7-4 record at No. 1 doubles.
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SERIES INFO
SMU's series histories with both Tulsa and Rice span more than two decades each. Against Tulsa, the Mustangs are 11-10 all-time dating back to 1994. The Mustangs are 5-3 at home against the Golden Hurricane with the last home win coming in the form of a 4-0 sweep in 2016. The last meetup was in April 2016 when SMU lost 4-1 on a neutral site in the second round of the AAC Championship.
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SMU holds a 17-15 series record against Rice with a 7-3 record in games played in Houston. The series dates back to March 1985 when SMU earned a 9-0 sweep on the road. The Owls and the Mustangs last faced off in 2017 for a 4-1 SMU victory at home.
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NEUFELD EARNS 600TH CAREER WIN
Head Coach Carl Neufeld added a milestone win to his resume on April 8, earning his 600th career win as a head coach when the Mustangs took down UT Arlington, 4-3. Neufeld, in his 25th season as SMU's head coach, holds 419 wins on the Hilltop. He is the winningest active head coach at the university and second all-time to women's basketball head coach Rhonda Rompola (1996-2016) who holds 439 victories. Prior to SMU, Neufeld was an assistant coach at Southern California and a head coach at Northern Illinois. Neufeld has a 419-244 (.632) record at SMU and a 600-348 (.633) record overall.
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TAKING ON RANKED OPPONENTS
The Mustangs have not shied away from tough competition in dual match season, having faced seven Oracle/ITA nationally-ranked teams. SMU first traveled to No. 8 Texas, followed by a home match against No. 18 TCU, a road match at No. 10 Oklahoma State, and home matches vs. No. 41 Memphis and No. 9 Columbia. The Mustangs then faced No. 26 Arizona State at the BNP Paribas Collegiate Tennis Challenge. Finally, No. 31 Tulane visited the SMU Tennis Complex for an American Conference matchup. Since taking on Harvard and Arkansas, both teams have appeared on the national rankings as well, with Arkansas listed at No. 50 on Feb. 20 and Harvard reaching as high as No. 23.
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PLAYING HOST – AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
For the first time since joining the conference, SMU will host the American Athletic Conference Tennis Championship on April 19-22 at the SMU Tennis Complex and the Crum Tennis Courts. The Tournament will begin on Thursday at 9 a.m. and culminate with the championship match on Sunday at 12 p.m. The men's championship will run simultaneously with the women's championship at the same sites.
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LAST TIME OUT
 The Mustangs showed grit in singles play against UT Arlington Sunday, rallying to win four matches after falling behind early in doubles play.
In doubles, UTA's Enrique Pardo and Sansidh Kommaraju defeated Eladio Fabregas and Gardiner Perotti, 6-1. Jan-Simon Vrbsky and Tomas Vaise fell 6-3, their ninth loss of the spring, to give UTA a 1-0 lead.
In singles, the Mustangs quickly evened the score with a 6-2, 6-1 win from Roberto Rosales at No. 6. Tomas Vaisefell, 6-2, 6-3, to No. 102 Guanarteme Nuez at the top position to surrender a point to the Mavericks, but SMU found momentum to continue on for the match win.
Eladio Fabregas defeated Kommaraju 6-3, 6-3 to tie the match once again, and Charles Nettlefold gave SMU its first lead with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win at No. 4.
The Mustangs clinched the win with a 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 victory by Jan-Simon Vrbsky at No. 2. He improves to a team-best 11-8 with his second-consecutive win.
UTA added a third point when Perotti fell 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 on court three.
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LOOKING AHEAD
The Mustangs set their focus on the American Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Championship on April 19-22 at the SMU Tennis Complex.
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FOLLOW THE MUSTANGS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Mustangs by following SMU Men's Tennis on Twitter at @SMUTennisM, Instagram at @SMUTennisM and on Facebook at Facebook.com/MTennis. Follow SMU Athletics on Twitter at @SMUMustangs or Instagram at SMU.Mustangs.
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