Chowder Festival & Sherwood Collegiate Cup
Cambridge, Mass. & Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Friday-Sunday, Sep. 20-22
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SMU Mobile App 

DALLAS (SMU) – Figuring out one significant change before tackling the next significant change. That's the approach SMU Men's Tennis coach Grant Chen is taking into the 2024-25 season. 

There is plenty of excitement around joining the Atlantic Coast Conference and the level of competition the Mustangs will face. Counting the three new additions to the league this off-season, nine of the current ACC members qualified for the NCAA Championship last year, including SMU.

Every week on the court will certainly bring a new challenge, but that will happen in the spring. Right now, Chen and his players are focused on the fall competition, which is also completely different from what has been previously expected. 

"Historically it's been the team championship in May, followed by the singles and doubles (tournaments). That has entirely changed," Chen said. "For the first time ever, the singles and doubles will be held in November and then the team portion will be in May. What they're kind of doing is having an individual season and then a team part of the season. So this is a new fall that we're all navigating."

The action starts Friday on both sides of the country. Noah McDonald and Kale Mize will head to Cambridge, Mass., for the Chowder Festival hosted by Harvard, while Vikas Deo, Hughes Peus, Maks Silagy and Xavier Calvelo are bound for Thousand Oaks, Calif., to take part in the Sherwood Collegiate Cup.

The Chowder Festival will feature players from Illinois, Yale, Boise State and Harvard, while the Sherwood Collegiate Cup will host players from Cal, University of Pacific, New Mexico, BYU, Pepperdine, LMU, USC and UCLA.

The new fall competition format is something the Mustangs are having to figure out after losing a sizable portion of their veteran leadership. Chen likened it to a changing of the guard as some of the talent that has been waiting in the wings is being asked to step up and play a bigger role, while some new additions could make an instant impact. 

Of the nine returners on the roster for the fall season, four players finished with winning singles records last year while three didn't see any action at all. SMU added a transfer in Vikas Deo from Wake Forest along with two freshmen. 

American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Trevor Svajda says the off-season has been about building chemistry, with players gathering for weekly team dinners and outings to get to know each other better. 

"We do have a couple new guys on the team which is nice. They're great guys and we're looking forward to our first match," Svajda said. 

The tricky part is putting everyone in position to be successful without undercutting each other. While building team camaraderie is good for the spring, bringing a large group to the same event in the fall doesn't make sense, as SMU players would have to face each other in the bracket early on. Hence the reason the team will be split to start the year. 

The hope is to use the next few months to foster confidence, while keeping the looming ACC schedule in mind along the way. 

A lot might be changing, but SMU's goal remains the same – be among the best collegiate tennis teams in the country. 

"It's going to be a fun year, but a new look for sure. That's something that's going to be interesting to see how it unfolds as we navigate this new environment," Chen said. "The ACC is very, very good. We're going to have eight or nine teams in the top 50. You want to talk about a challenge? You want to talk about an opportunity? That's as tough as it gets."