The Mustangs fell to the No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs at home on Saturday, Jan. 31, by a score of 4-1. SMU came into the match with a non-conference 3-2 record.
The day started with doubles, where TCU dominated all three matches. Sophomore Georgi Georgiev is a member of the SMU team and an eight-time Bulgarian national champion, multiple-time national team member for the European Championships
“The battle of the Iron Skillet is special,” Georgiev said. “And I am sad we couldn’t bring it home this time.”
On court one, junior Trevor Svajda and Alex Finkelstein faced off with TCU’s Cooper Woestendick and Oliver Bonding and ended the match with a score of 3-6 with a close comeback.
On Court two, Georgiev and junior Krish Arora faced Rolland De Ravel and Duncan Chanending, ending early at 3-5. On court three, Jerry Barton and Vikas Deo fell to Filip Apltauer and Maximus Dussault, ending 3-6.
“[I’m] pretty proud of the boys and how we competed today. Even though we couldn’t get the W, they are the number 4 team in the country for a reason,” Gerorgiev said.
In singles, SMU was equally as unlucky, winning only three of the six matches. As the No. 2 singles player in the country, Svajda won his match against Duncan Chan.
“I loved the aggressiveness from Trevor and Jerry and Krish,” Jason Sraberg, the team manager, said. “I think this was some of their best matches in that aspect.”
Sraberg has been the men’s tennis manager for four years. He is present at all home and away games and said he generally liked what he saw from the team.
“Overall, we played good,” Sraberg said. We could have converted some deuce points, and could have been a little bit more aggressive on some of the points during the matches but I think we played pretty well.”
Sport Management senior Will Koester attended the match because of the strong rivalry between the schools. Although the match was at SMU, Koester still felt that TCU had a strong fan base in attendance.
“It was pretty energetic, but there was a lot more support for TCU,” Koester said. “They were a lot more boisterous because they won, and they were playing much better than us.”
With 573 people in attendance, the SMU fans still make an impact on the team, Sraberg said.
“A lot of the guys feed off of the support of the crowd, and that’s where they get a lot of energy from,” Sraberg said. “So it makes it a lot easier when you are playing your rival, and you’re at home, and you have your fans with you.”
Next, SMU men’s tennis will take on the University of Tulsa at home on Feb. 1.
