ORLANDO, Fla. (SMU) - SMU Men's Tennis junior Trevor Svajda finished runner-up at the NCAA Singles Championship on Sunday.
 
"What a week. I want to thank the coaching staff and team for all the support this fall," said Svajda.
 
"A lot of hard work and miles were logged. I'm proud of the tournament and really looking forward to the spring season. Thank you, Mustang Nation."
 
The junior became the first Mustang to reach the championship match since Richey Reneberg in 1986. He fell in the final match 4-6, 6-1, 2-6 to defending champion Michael Zheng after defeating NC State's Martin Borisiouk 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinal round of the tournament.
 
"So proud of Trevor. He has represented himself and SMU at the biggest stage. All the work he has put in is showing and there's more to come," said Head Coach Grant Chen.
 
"For Trevor to be in the same company as SMU Hall of Famers George Hardie and Richie Reneberg is super exciting. Grateful for all the love from SMU Athletic Department supporting us from Dallas and Orlando."
 
Svajda defeated Mississippi State's Petar Johanovic 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to become the first Mustang to reach the semifinals—also the first Mustang since Reneberg in 1986.
 
The California native pulled an upset in the round of 16, defeating No. 6 seed Kenta Miyoshi from Illinois in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) on Thursday. He defeated Auburn's Amirkhamza Nasridinov 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 in the round of 32 to earn his first-career All-America honor.
 
Thursday's win is Svajda's second upset win in the tournament. He defeated Florida's Jeremy Jin (6-1, 4-6, 6-4) in the first round on Tuesday.
 
Svajda became the first Mustang to advance to the NCAA Championships quarterfinals since Ignacio Hirigoyen in 1999.
 
The California native is the first Mustang to earn All-America honors and reach the round of 16 in the tournament in 21 years — Johan Brunstrom was the last Mustang to achieve this in 2004.