Box Score
 
HOUSTON (SMU) – No. 31 SMU Men's Tennis wins 4-1 at No. 50 Rice to defend the Turpin Cup in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday.
 
The hosts took the doubles point after winning courts two and one consecutively, but the Mustangs bounced back in singles play by winning courts one, three, four and five to win the match.
 
Jerry Barton, Trevor Svajda, Georgi Georgiev and Krish Arora grabbed singles wins that clinched the road win.
 
Svajda claimed his eighth ranked win of the season, 20^th singles win of the spring and 30^th win of the season, tying Dustin Mauck (1998) in seventh in SMU's all-time leader in single-season singles wins (30). He is 20-2 this spring.
 
Barton improved his spring singles record to 16-6 while Georgiev improved his to 15-4. Arora clinched the match for SMU by earning his 13^th singles win of the spring.
 
The last time SMU won a match without taking the doubles point was against Tulsa when the Mustangs won 4-1, on Feb. 1.
 
"Really proud of the team for keeping the Turpin Cup in Dallas in a hard-fought road battle in Houston," said Head Coach Grant Chen. "Very important win as we look to wrap up the regular season against Boston College at home on Saturday."
 
The Mustangs are 18-10 overall as they enter the final weekend of the regular season.
 
How it Went
The hosts took the head start by winning courts one and two of doubles play.
 
The Mustangs found their footing in singles play as Jerry Barton grabbed the visitors' first point by winning court five against Gabriel Porras (6-4, 6-1).
 
No. 2 Trevor Svajda took the lead for SMU by defeating No. 54 Petro Kuzmenok (6-2, 6-3) before Georgi Georgiev made it 3-1 by winning his match against Rafael Botran (6-4, 6-3).
 
Krish Arora defeated Kabeer Kapasi on court four to clinch the match at 4-1 for SMU.
 
Doubles Scores
1. No. 47 Santiago Navarro / Petro Kuzmenok def. Trevor Svajda / Jerry Barton (6-2)
2. Alex Finkelstein / Krish Arora vs. Kabeer Kapasi / Yair Sarouk (5-4 UF)
3. Tommy Czaplinkski / Rafael Botran def. Vikas Deo / Georgi Georgiev (6-1)
Order of Finish: 3, 1
 
Singles Scores
1. No. 2 Trevor Svajda def. No. 54 Petro Kuzmenok (6-2, 6-3)
2. Alex Finkelstein vs. Santiago Navarro (7-6, 2-6, 0-5 UF)
3. Georgi Georgiev def. Rafael Botran (6-4, 6-3)
4. Krish Arora def. Kabeer Kapasi (6-4, 5-7, 6-4)
5. Jerry Barton def. Gabriel Porras (6-4, 6-1)
6. Noah McDonald vs. Noey Do (4-6, 7-5, 0-2 UF)
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 3, 4
 
What's Next?
The Mustangs will head home to host Boston College on their Senior Day on Saturday.