No. 55 SMU vs. Butler | Wednesday, Mar. 13 - 1 p.m. (CT)
Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex - Dallas, Texas
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SETTING THE SCENE
•    No. 55 SMU hosts Butler at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on Sunday at 1 p.m.
•    SMU is coming off a 5-2 win against Cal on Mar. 10.
•    The Mustangs currently hold a 7-1 home record.
•    No. 44 Trevor Svajda and Adam Neff both earned wins over ranked opponents against Cal (No. 107 Carl Emil Overbeck, No. 67 Ryder Jackson)
•    The Mustangs are in their sixth season under the AAC's reigning Coach of the Year, Grant Chen.

KNOW THE FOE
•    Butler enters Wednesday's match 5-11 overall.
•    The Bulldogs return seven players from a year ago - Nicolas Arts, Alvaro Vadillo, Patrick Joss, Michael Karr, Rahulniket Konakanchi, Borja Miralles and Aidan William.

2024 DALLAS OPEN
•    Five Mustangs - Adam Neff, Trevor Svajda, Jerry Barton, Julian Steinhausen and Huntley Allen - competed in the 2024 Dallas Open.
•    Neff headlined the tournament's College Night as a singles main draw wild card against Jordan Thompson.
•    Allen and Steinhausen went three sets in their main draw doubles match against Ben Shelton and Emilio Nava.
•    Both Svajda and Barton competed as wild cards in the singles qualifying rounds.

SPRING RECORDS
•    Singles
    Trevor Svajda (11-3)
    Adam Neff (5-7)
    Jerry Barton (7-5)
    Liam Krall (9-5)
    Maks Silagy (9-5)
    Eric Hadigian (5-3)
    Louis Cloud (6-3)
    Julian Steinhausen (1-0)
    Alex Stafford (1-0)
    Liam Sunkel (1-0)
    Callaway Clark (2-0)
    Kyle Sillman (1-0)
    Alex Yang (1-0)
•    Doubles
    Allen/Steinhausen (4-1)
    Neff/Svajda (4-2)
    Silagy/Barton (2-1)
    Clark/Hadigian (1-1)
    Allen/Silagy (1-0)
    Krall/Clark (0-2)
    Cloud/Sillman (1-0)
    Silagy/Sillman (1-0)
    Allen/Neff (4-2)
    Barton/Svajda (1-1)
    Steinhausen/Silagy (2-3)
    Clark/Sillman (1-0)
    Svajda/Cloud (3-1)

ITA RANKINGS
•    Singles (Mar. 5) - Trevor Svajda (44).
•    Doubles (Mar. 5) - Adam Neff/Huntley Allen (44).
•    Team (Mar. 12) - SMU (55).

'NEFF SAID
•    Senior Captain Adam Neff was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week (Feb. 20) after going a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles play against UTRGV, Incarnate Word and Clemson.
•    Neff was ranked No. 97 in the Feb. 20 ITA singles poll and No. 44 with Huntley Allen in the current doubles ranking (Mar. 5).
•    Neff headlined the 2024 Dallas Open's College Night in his singles main draw match against Jordan Thompson.

SERVIN' SVAJDA
•    Freshman Trevor Svajda joined SMU as the No. 1 tennis recruit in the nation.
•    Svajda has opened his collegiate career with an 11-3 record playing on line one for the Mustangs.
•    Svajda has earned three singles wins over ranked opponents this season (No. 17, No. 35, No. 107). 
•    Svajda competed at the USTA's 2024 Southern California Open, where he rallied to defeat Tennys Sandgren (0-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3)).
•    The San Diego native was selected to play against Nicolas Moreno De Alboran as a singles qualifying wild card at the 2024 Dallas Open.

KRALL-STAR
•    Liam Krall is currently 9-5 in his senior season with the Mustangs.
•    Krall defeated Baylor's No. 75 Devin Badenhorst (6-4, 5-7, 6-4).
•    Krall has clinched two wins for SMU this season with singles victories at No. 57 Cornell and against Cal.
•    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.

ERIC HAD-A-WIN
•    Pepperdine transfer Eric Hadigian currently holds a 5-3 singles record in his first year at SMU.
•    Hadigian posted a 9-1 singles record in the fall in two tournaments.
•    Hadigian posted tournament victories in both of his fall competitions (Cowboy Classic, ITA Regional Consolation Championship) for SMU.  
•    Hadigian finished the fall season ranked No. 122 in the ITA's final fall singles poll.

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 (W, 4-1)
    Arkansas (L, 4-2)
    Cal (W, 5-2)
    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.

JERRY'S WORLD
•    Furman transfer Jerry Barton was ranked No. 88 in the ITA's Feb. 7 singles poll and No. 98 in the final fall poll.
•    Barton was selected as a singles qualifying wild card at the 2024 Dallas Open, where he competed against Denis Kudla.
•    Barton holds a ranked win on the season against USC's No. 73 Lodewijk Weststrate.

CLOUD NINE
•    Junior Louis Cloud is currently 6-3 in singles play for SMU this season.
•    Last season, 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 Chengdu, 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.

TO THE MAKS
•    Florida State transfer Maks Silagy holds an 9-5 record in singles play.
•    The junior clinched SMU's 4-1 win against AAC foe Rice with his 6-2, 7-6(10) victory over Santiago Navarro.

HOME, SWEET HOME
•    SMU holds a 7-1 home mark this season.
•    SMU hosts home matches against Butler, Wisconsin and Middle Tennessee between Mar. 13 and 17. 

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.

WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
•    Three Mustangs - Liam Krall, Callaway Clark and Louis Cloud - traveled to Chengdu, 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. 

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 hosts back-to-back matches at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex against Wisconsin (Mar. 16) and No. 39 Middle Tennessee (Mar. 17). Both matches are set to begin at 12 p.m. (CT).