SMU’s Federico Murgier prepares to hit the ball at the double header SMU hosted at the Bent Tree Country Club.
After playing two matches in three days, in addition to traveling through a snowstorm, most teams would take the day off. Not the SMU men’s tennis team.
The Mustangs practiced on the Airline courts in the Monday afternoon sun, not content to skip even a day of training in the middle of the season.
“The guys are out here early,” said Head Coach Carl Neufeld. “We have weights at 4:45 p.m. and I told them to come hit balls around 3:30 p.m.” It was only 3 p.m. and half the squad was already deep into rallies, with the rest of the team walking in a few minutes later.
The No. 39 ranked team spent the weekend in Minneapolis, defeating No. 65 Iowa and falling to No. 24 Minnesota. The Mustangs are now 4-3 for the season as they head into tough competition against Baylor on Wednesday.
“Our objective is to play tough teams and test ourselves. Our schedule is tougher than usual,” said Neufeld. “But the guys are responding well.”
Sunday’s match marked No. 1 singles player Alex Skrypko’s return to the Mustang roster. The junior missed three matches due to injury and illness but pulled out a 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 victory over Minnesota’s Andres Osorio. Skrypko played No. 3 doubles on Friday with Robin Faghen to win 8-2 over Tommy McGeorge and Patrick Dwyer of Iowa.
Skrypko acknowledged that his injury probably came from jumping back into practice too soon after winter break, but is optimistic about the rest of the season.
“I’m excited to be playing No. 1. I’m going to try to win as many matches as possible and try to help my team win,” said Skrypko.
While Skrypko was out sick on Friday, teammate Oivind Alver flew home to deal with family matters making him unavailable to play all weekend.
“Alex played great on Sunday, especially since he hadn’t played in four weeks. I was amazed we won on Friday without Oivind [Alver] and Alex,” said Neufeld. Alver, who typically plays No. 3 or No. 4 singles for the Mustangs, practiced with the team on Monday.
In the absence of their teammates, freshman Robin Faghen and redshirt freshman Chris Hooshyar stepped into No. 3 and No. 4 singles, taking wins over J.P. Ritchie and Gregory Holm of Iowa. Hooshyar paired with Federico Murgier to win No. 2 doubles 8-4.
The Mustangs received their third loss of the season from No. 24 Minnesota on Sunday as SMU fell 5-2. Skrypko and Faghen notched the only wins of the day for SMU.
The Mustangs continue on Wednesday Feb. 28 by hosting No. 5 Baylor University at the Bent Tree Country Club.
