Mustangs Set For Home Matches Versus No. 65 South Florida, No. 3 TCU

Sunday, March 20

Dallas

1:00 p.m.

SMU

No. 65 South Florida

Photo by: George Walker/DFWsportsonline

Mustangs Set For Home Matches Versus No. 65 South Florida, No. 3 TCU

Mar 19 | Men's Tennis

By: Ben DiCrasto

No. 42 SMU (10-5) vs No. 65 South Florida (8-6), No. 3 TCU (14-2)
Dallas, Texas
March 20, 2022

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DALLAS – The Mustangs continue their home stand with two ranked matches in two days. They will face No. 65 USF on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. before taking on No. 3 ranked TCU Monday at 6:00 p.m. The USF match will be shown on ESPN+. The Mustangs are 5-3 at home and have won seven of their last nine matches.

Fans in attendance will be offered free Lucky's Hot Chicken at Sunday's match and free Rusty Taco at Monday's match.

Scouting USF
The No. 65 ranked Bulls are currently 8-6, 0-2 on the road. They have won three in a row including an impressive 4-3 win over No. 16 Columbia. They play against No. 3 TCU today in Fort Worth. This season they have been led by Sergio Gomez Montesa and Alvin Tudorica. The pair have combined for an overall singles dual record of 17-4. Tudorica has won his last seven. The duo also play doubles together and have an 8-4 dual record. Bruno Oliveira and Rithvik Bollipalli are 7-3 in doubles.

SMU is 1-6 against USF all-time. The Mustangs lost to them last year in the conference semifinals 4-2.

Scouting TCU
TCU is 14-2 this season, 2-0 away from home. While they are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, they climbed to the top spot in early March. Their resume includes wins over No. 1 Florida, No. 1 Ohio State, No. 3 Tennessee, and No. 6 Virginia. The Horned Frogs have five ranked singles players and three ranked doubles teams. Juan Carlos Aguilar (8-5) leads the way for them in singles at No. 12, closely followed by Luc Fomba (7-3) at No. 14. Their top three doubles teams are ranked No. 4 through No. 6 in the nation.

The Mustangs hold a 14-22 all-time record against TCU. They are 7-9 at home with their last win coming back in 2010 in Dallas.

Hot Mustangs
Julian Steinhausen and Huntley Allen have won four straight doubles matches and are 5-1 in dual play this season.
Freshman Louis Cloud has won three straight singles matches since being entered into the lineup at No. 60 UTSA on March 13^th. He has won this season on lines No. 1, No. 3, and No. 6.

Making National Noise
The Mustangs pulled off a dramatic 4-3 road win over No. 18 Texas A&M on February 27^th. This was SMU's highest ranked win since defeating No. 8 Texas Tech in the second round of the 2016 NCAA tournament and third top 20 win since head coach Grant Chen took over the program in 2018. Former Aggie, Pranav Kumar clinched the win for SMU.

The Mustangs also defeated No. 35 San Diego 4-3 on the road on March 5^th. San Diego native Ivan Thamma, a graduate transfer from UC Davis, clinched the match for SMU. He erased a 6-7, 1-4 deficit, winning the final two sets 6-4, 6-4. Thamma and doubles partner Adam Neff also knocked off San Diego's No. 43 ranked doubles team of Holmgren and Osorio 6-3, handing them their first loss of the year.

In a close 4-3 loss to No. 19 Middle Tennessee on March 3^rd, Thamma and Neff defeated the No. 47 ranked doubles team of Francisco Rocha and Oskar Poulsen 6-3. Caleb Chakravarthi also beat No. 101 ranked singles player Chris Edge in straight sets 7-6, 6-1.

Ranking the 'Stangs
Over the last three weeks, the Mustangs have jumped 16 spots in the ITA national rankings. They currently stand at No. 42. The highest the Mustangs climbed last year was No. 44.

Mustangs On Tour
Four SMU men's tennis players debuted on the ATP Tour at the Dallas Open in February. Caleb Chakravarthi, Liam Krall, and Adam Neff were all awarded matches in singles, while Adam Neff and Ivan Thamma were given a spot in doubles. The field included three top-30 ranked players in the world including John Isner, Taylor Fritz, and Reilly Opelka. Neff and Thamma came closest to winning their match, as they split sets with Sam Querrey and Jackson Withrow before losing 10-5 on a tiebreak.

Chen Hits Milestone Wins Mark
The Mustangs defeated UTSA 4-0 on March 13^th, marking Head Coach Grant Chen's 50^th career win. He previously spent six years at UCLA as Assistant Coach/Associate Head Coach before coming to SMU in 2018.

AAC Honors
Graduate senior Pranav Kumar was named AAC Men's Tennis player of the week on March 1^st, after clinching the Mustangs' 4-3 win over his former team, the No. 18 ranked Texas A&M Aggies. This was Kumar's second consecutive match clinching win, having lifted SMU to victory over Nebraska 4-3 on February 20^th.

Fall Titles
SMU won a number of tournaments this fall. Former AAC Freshman of the Year Liam Krall took the singles title at the Lakes Collegiate Invitational. Senior captain Caleb Chakravarthi won the singles title, as well as the doubles title with Julian Steinhausen at the Islander Invite. Jordi Redelijk won the singles title at the Ralston/Neufeld Coaches Challenge, while Kyle Sillman and John Zisette took the doubles trophy.