BOX SCORE
 
NORMAN, Okla. (SMU) –  SMU men's tennis rallied to knock off No. 23 Oklahoma, 4-3, on Sunday at the Headington Family Tennis Center.
 
"Incredible match today," said head coach Grant Chen.  "So proud of this group of young men for how they have been developing and competing. They showed so much after dropping a close doubles point and to win 4 singles matches in three sets. So much credit to two seniors and two freshman who trusted their games to come out with singles victories."

Caleb Chakravarthi was locked in a tight third-set battle for the final point of the match against No. 69 Mason Beiler. The senior went up a break and found himself serving for the match. Chakravarthi closed out the dual match with a service victory for the Mustangs first top-25 win since 2017.
 
The match began with the Mustangs losing an extremely tight doubles point. OU won court three against Chakravarthi and Jan-Simon Vrbsky, 6-3. The Mustangs answered with a 6-4 line one win thanks to Tomas Vaise and Juan Jose Bianchi. The freshman pairing of Julian Steinhausen and Liam Krall forced a tiebreaker and jumped out to a 5-2 lead before the Sooners rallied to win the tiebreaker and the doubles point.
 
In singles, Oklahoma made it 2-0 with a win over Clarke Wilson on line six.  Tomas Vaise put the Mustangs on the board with a come-from-behind victory. The senior rebounded from a first set loss to win, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
 
Vrbsky lost set one before a back-and-forth second set ensued. Vrbsky eventually found himself in a lengthy tiebreaker, fending off three match points before losing in 10-8 in the breaker.
 
Krall won his first set in a tiebreaker on line two before dropping set two. The freshman gave the Mustangs a must-have point after a 6-4 third set. Steinhausen's match played out similarly to Krall's with a first set tiebreaker win, a second set loss and a third set victory. The freshman's win put the match at all square and shifted the focus to Chakravarthi on line one.
 
Chakravarthi split the first two sets, both 6-2 with Beiler before pulling off the victory and giving the Mustangs a ranked road win.
 
"It's never easy on the road and we know how good OU is and how well coached they are," added Chen. "We look forward to getting home and preparing for another weekend on the road."
 
The Mustangs travel to Salt Lake City next weekend for a Saturday rematch with Utah.