SALT LAKE CITY (SMU) – SMU men's tennis dropped a tight 4-3 road match to Utah on Saturday afternoon at the Eccles Tennis Center.

"Road matches are hard," said head coach Grant Chen. "Another 4-3 college match and we came up short this time. Credit to the home team for earning this win. We just couldn't get the tide shifted in a few crucial lines and this game always comes down to a few points here and there."
 
SMU freshman Liam Krall and Julian Steinhausen both gutted out three set victories in the loss to the Utes. Krall split the first two before winning 6-4 in set three. Steinhausen's match included tiebreakers in the first two sets, and a supertiebreaker in the third. The freshman won 10-4 in the super.
 
Tomas Vaise pulled off another impressive win for the third of the Mustang points. The senior dropped his first in a tiebreaker before pulling off a 6-3 second set. In the crucial third set, Vaise worked the match to a tiebreaker where he won 8-6 to conclude the lengthy match.
 
The rematch with the Utes started with the Mustang dropping the doubles point. Jan-Simon Vrbsky and Huntley Allen combined to win their match on court three, 6-1. Krall and Steinhausen fell 6-4 on court two while  Vaise and Juan Jose Bianchi dropped the deciding match, 6-4.
 
Utah secured the victory during singles with victories on court one over Caleb Chakravarthi, court six over Clarke Wilson and court four against Vrbsky.
 
The Mustangs move to 6-5 on the season while the Utes improve to 5-2.
 
Next up, the Mustangs return home for a Feb. 13 for a doubleheader with Abilene Christian and Oklahoma Baptist.