SMU at No. 14 Texas A&M | Friday - 12 p.m. (CT)
Mitchell Tennis Center - College Station, Texas
Watch | Live Stats | SMU Notes
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
SMU Mobile App | Apple | Google Play

SETTING THE SCENE
•    SMU travels to College Station, Texas, to take on No. 14 Texas A&M on Friday at 12 p.m. (CT).
•    The Mustangs went 1-1 at the USC Regional of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, defeating Texas Tech (4-3) and losing a close battle with No. 7 USC (4-2).
•    SMU has an overall 5-2 record on the season, including a 4-2 non-conference mark.
•    The Mustangs are in their sixth season under the AAC's reigning Coach of the Year, Grant Chen.

KNOW THE FOE
•    Texas A&M enters Friday's match 4-0 on the year.
•    The Aggies rank No. 14 in the ITA's most recent team poll.
•    Texas A&M defeated Georgia to win Georgia's regional of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
•    The Aggies had two players - Luke Casper (93) and JC Roddick (109) - ranked in the ITA's final fall singles poll.
•    Steve Denton is in his 19th season as head coach of the Aggies.

LAST TIME OUT
•    The Mustangs went 1-1 at the USC Regional of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, defeating Texas Tech (4-3) after losing a close battle with No. 7 USC (4-2).
•    Liam Krall defeated Texas Tech's Niksa Arsic (6-2, 6-7, 6-4) to clinch SMU's win. 
•    Both Jerry Barton and Louis Cloud went 2-0 in singles play on the weekend.

SPRING RECORDS
•    Singles
    Trevor Svajda (5-1)
    Adam Neff (2-3)
    Jerry Barton (4-1)
    Liam Krall (3-2)
    Maks Silagy (6-1)
    Eric Hadigian (3-1)
    Louis Cloud (4-0)
    Julian Steinhausen (1-0)
    Alex Stafford (1-0)
    Liam Sunkel (1-0)
    Callaway Clark (1-0)
    Kyle Sillman (1-0)
    Alex Yang (1-0)
•    Doubles
    Allen/Steinhausen (3-1)
    Neff/Svajda (4-2)
    Silagy/Barton (2-1)
    Clark/Hadigian (1-1)
    Allen/Silagy (1-0)
    Krall/Clark (0-1)
    Cloud/Sillman (1-0)
    Silagy/Sillman (1-0)

HOT START
•    The Mustangs opened the season with four consecutive 7-0 shutouts over Hawaii, Prairie View A&M and UAB.
•    Only two SMU singles matches have been extended to three sets.
•    The Mustangs' 4-0 record with no opponent points allowed marks the best start to a season under Head Coach Grant Chen.

'NEFF SAID
•    Senior Captain Adam Neff returns to the Hilltop after earning the AAC Player of the Year last season.
•    Neff also earned AAC All-Conference Singles and Doubles honors in 2023. The Bradenton, Florida, native posted an 18-6 overall record playing line one for the Mustangs.
•    Neff ranked as high as 64th in singles last season and appeared in the NCAA Individual Championship - SMU's first selection since 2006.
•    Neff and SMU Alum Pranav Kumar ranked as high as 55th in doubles action in 2023.

SERVIN' SVAJDA
•    Freshman Trevor Svajda joined SMU as the No. 1 tennis recruit in the nation.
•    Svajda has opened his collegiate career with a 5-1 record playing on line one for the Mustangs.
•    Svadja competed at the USTA's 2024 Southern California Open, where he rallied to defeat Tennys Sandgren (0-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3)).
•    Svajda and Adam Neff are 4-2 in doubles play.

KRALL-STAR
•    Senior Liam Krall won his first match of the 2024 season with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout against Hawaii's Andy Hernandez.
•    Krall competed in the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China. He went on to defeat the tournament's No. 1 overall seed to advance to the quarterfinals.
•    Krall earned the AAC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and AAC All-Conference Singles honors in 2022 as a junior.
•    Krall was also named the 2021 AAC Freshman of the Year.

RUN IT BACK
•    SMU will host the 2024 Dallas Open for the third straight year at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex.
•    Adam Neff will headline the tournament's College Night (Feb. 6) after being awarded a singles main draw wildcard.

ITA RANKINGS
•    Singles    
    88 - Adam Neff
    98 - Jerry Barton
    122 - Eric Hadigian
•    Doubles
    60 - Julian Steinhausen & Huntley Allen

THIS YEAR'S GAUNTLET
•    The Mustangs will face off with 17 teams that 
    finished ranked inside the top-75 of the final
    2023 ITA standings in June.
•    Of those matchups, SMU will host:
    Rice (Feb. 11)
    Arkansas (Feb. 28)
    Cal (Mar. 10)
    Wisconsin (Mar. 16)
    Middle Tennessee (Mar. 17)
    Tulane (Mar. 30)
    Memphis (Apr. 7)
    TCU (Apr. 11)
•    SMU will play a total of 15 home matches at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in the spring.
•    The Mustangs will face six American Athletic Conference opponents – UAB, Rice, Tulane, Memphis, Temple and Tulsa – before the AAC Tournament Championships on April 18-21 in Tulsa, Okla.
•    SMU will travel to Los Angeles for both the USTA Southern California Open and ITA Kickoff Weekend with USC, Texas Tech and San Diego during the week of Jan. 21-28.

ERIC AT-IT-AGAIN
•    Pepperdine transfer Eric Hadigian posted a 9-1 singles record in the fall in two tournaments.
•    Hadigian posted tournament victories in both of his fall competitions for SMU. The California native went 4-0 to win Oklahoma State's Cowboy Classic on Oct. 15. 
• The following weekend, Hadigian won five consecutive matches, rallying to take home the singles consolation final at the ITA Texas Regionals. 

WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
•    Three Mustangs - Liam Krall, Callaway Clark and Louis Cloud - traveled to Chenjdu, China, to compete in the 2023 World University Games.
•    Krall defeated the tournament's No. 1 overall seed - Chak Lam Coleman (Hong Kong) - in the second round of singles play.
•    Clark competed in the tournament's mixed doubles field with Elise Wagle from UCLA women's tennis, advancing to the field's quarterfinal round.
•    Cloud competed in the men's singles field, coming away with a win in the first round. 

FRESH FACES
•    SMU added three freshmen - Trevor Svajda, Kale Mize and Hughes Peus - and four transfers - Jerry Barton (Furman), Eric Hadigian (Pepperdine), Maks Silagy (Florida State) and Alex Yang (NYU) to its 2023-24 roster.
•    The Mustangs announced their stellar freshmen signing class in December. Svajda ranked as the number-one recruit in the nation when signing with SMU. Mize comes to SMU also as a five-star recruit, with Peus bringing Team USA experience to the Hilltop.  

CLOUD NINE
•    Junior Louis Cloud clinched the Mustangs' second consecutive AAC title in his singles match with Tulane's Sam Scherer, rallying to win after facing triple match-point.
•    Cloud's success carried over into the summer, where he traveled to Chenjdu, China for the 2023 World University Games. The San Antonio, Texas, native earned a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory in the singles round-of-64.

OH, CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
•    Seniors Adam Neff and Huntley Allen were named team captains in August.
•    Neff enters his second season as an SMU team captain after a successful junior campaign in which he earned AAC Player of the Year honors.

UP NEXT
•    SMU returns home for a dual match versus Rice in the Turpin Cup at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on Feb. 11 with play beginning at 10 a.m. (CT).