The No. 46 men’s tennis team (11-9) hosted No. 29 Notre Dame (15-6) Sunday afternoon before an enthusiastic crowd at Haggar Tennis Stadium.

Though the Fighting Irish jumped to a 1-0 lead after taking two of three doubles matches, senior Paul McNaughton, who played the first half of his collegiate career with Notre Dame, led the Mustangs into singles when he took down opponent Stephen Bass with scores of 6-2 and 6-3.

“Paul played super tennis today,” head coach Carl Neufeld said in a post-game press release. “He beat one of the top players in the country and helped set the tone for us.”

Indeed, following McNaughton’s victory were two more straight-set wins by SMU players; Peter Oredsson defeated Irackli Akhvlediani at No. 4, 6-3 and 6-4, while Henrik Soderberg ousted opponent Patrick Buchanan with a pair of 6-3 sets at No. 5.

Senior Gwinyai Chingoka had the crowd on the edge of the seats at Haggar when he went three sets against Irish sophomore Barry King in the final-set tiebreaker at No. 2. After faltering in the first set, 3-6, Chingoka came back to win back-to-back battles by scores of 6-4 and 7-6.

Clinching the 5-2 victory, Chingoka’s win sent the Haggar crowd into an uproar of cheers as the Mustangs improved to 11-9 on the season.

Neufeld called the audience the “best crowd” he’s witnessed in his 12-year tenure at SMU.

“This is a huge win for us,” he continued. “Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 20 in the country for most of the season, so for us to come out and win five of the singles matches says a lot about our players. I’m very proud of this team.”

Next for SMU is local foe University of Texas-Arlington (9-7). The Mavericks will travel to Dallas for a 2:00 p.m. match this afternoon at Haggar Tennis Stadium.