No. 73 (4-8) vs SMU (9-8)
Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex – Dallas, Texas
2 p.m. | Sunday, Mar. 12
Season Stats
Box Score
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DALLAS (SMU)- SMU men's tennis was unable to fend off No. 73 UCF in back and forth match falling 4-2 at the Styslinger/ Altec Tennis Complex on Sunday afternoon.

For just the fifth time all season, the Mustangs fell ahead early as UCF took the doubles point.

UCF acted first as Liam Krall and Julian Steinhausen fell on Court 3, 6-3, to Yassine Dlimi and Francisco Llanes.

Adam Neff and Kyle Sillman picked up their first loss together against the No. 76 ITA doubles pairing of Bogdan Pavel and Lleyton Cronje. The SMU pair did not go down without a fight taking the ranked pair to a tiebreaker before falling 7-5 on Court 1 giving UCF the doubles point.

On Court 3, SMU earned the first point of singles play to equalize the score at 1-1. Pranav Kumar won the first three games then cruised to a 6-3 first set. Kumar then took the second set with a comfortable 6-4 victory to add on to his two-match win streak.

Adam Neff added another ranked victory to his belt as he defeated No. 105 ITA singles ranked Bogdan Pavel. Pavel got off to a quick start with a 3-1 lead over Neff in the first, but Neff stayed resilient and took the first set 6-4. Second set was all Neff as he won 6-3 giving SMU its first lead of the day at 2-1. Neff joins Muniz-Hidalgo and Krall with six individual singles wins a piece.

The Knights tied the match at two a piece on Court 6. Francisco Llanes gave Louis Cloud his fourth loss of the season with a 6-0, 7-5 loss. Cloud still leads the Mustangs with an 8-4 overall record.

UCF jumped back on top with a victory on Court 5. Mehdi Benchakroun took the opening set from Julian Steinhausen, 6-4. Steinhausen responded with a 6-3 victory in the second set to force a deciding third set. Steinhausen would eventually fall 6-2 in a hard-fought battle.

All eyes turned to Courts 2 and 4, which were going the distance in intense matchups.

Antonio Muniz-Hidalgo fell in his opening set in a 7-4 tiebreaker. Muniz-Hidalgo brought the hammer down with a 6-4 victory in the second to force a third set. Muniz-Hidalgo found himself in a 5-1 hole to start the third before he took the next three games, tightening the lead. As all members of both teams joined the court and brought the noise, Liam Branger would hold his serve to clinch the match and the dual.

Although left unfinished, Liam Krall had arguably the most talked-about match of the day. Krall was down 5-1 and took the next six games to get his first lead of the day. Lleyton Cronje took the next game, forcing an opening set tiebreaker. Going back and forth in the tiebreaker, Krall won in the 30-point breaker for the 16-14 win. The second set had a similar story as the first. Krall forced a second set tiebreaker but this time it went the way of Cronje with an 8-6 victory. As UCF clinched the match on Court 4, the match on Court 2 would go unfinished with Krall up 2-1 in the third.

SMU is now 9-8 throughout the dual season as the team travels to Berkeley, Calif. to take on No. 27 Cal on Wednesday, Mar. 15 at 2 p.m. CT.
 
73 Central Florida 4, SMU 2
Mar 12, 2023 at

Singles Competition 1. Adam Neff (SMU) def. #105 Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 6-4, 6-3

2. Liam Krall (SMU) vs. Lleyton Cronje (UCF) 7-6 (16-14), 6-7 (6-8), 2-1, unfinished

3. Pranav Kumar (SMU) def. Yassine Dlimi (UCF) 6-3, 6-4

4. Liam Branger (UCF) def. Antonio Muniz Hidalg (SMU) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4

5. Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF) def. Julian Steinhausen (SMU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2

6. Francisco Llanes (UCF) def. Louis Cloud (SMU) 6-0, 7-5

 

Doubles Competition 1. #76 Bogdan Pavel/Lleyton Cronje (UCF) def. Kyle Sillman/Adam Neff (SMU) 7-6 (7-5)

2. Antonio Muniz Hidalg/Pranav Kumar (SMU) vs. Paul Colin/Cooper White (UCF) 6-5, unfinished

3. Yassine Dlimi/Francisco Llanes (UCF) def. Liam Krall/Julian Steinhausen (SMU) 6-3

 

Match Notes Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,3,6,5,4)