SMU’s men’s tennis team played Baylor at the Bent Tree Country Club. (Sarah Acosta)
Riding a wave of success, the No. 48 SMU men’s tennis team travels to the Conference USA Championship Tournament today. An eight-match win streak and a 4-3 upset over No. 27 Rice proved the Mustangs are playing their best tennis of the season. According to head coach Carl Neufeld, some them are playing the best tennis of their lives.
SMU ended the regular season 15-8 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Mustangs garnered a No. 3 seed for the conference tournament, pitting them against No. 6 seed Southern Mississippi in the first round.
Leading the charge is No. 79 Alex Skrypko. The junior plays both No. 1 singles and doubles for SMU and holds an even 9-9 singles record. He is SMU’s only representative on the C-USA All-Academic team with a 3.29 GPA in economics. With partner Federico Murgier, Skyrpko has won eight of his last 10 doubles matches.
Defending the No. 2 spot is David Kuczer. The junior is 0-1 against conference opponents but is 10-9 overall this season. He and teammate Adolfo Solares clinched the match against Rice for the Mustangs with an 8-5 victory at No. 3 doubles.
Murgier has floated around the Mustang lineup, playing No. 2-No. 4 this season. The senior is 7-10 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Partners Oivind Alver and Robin Faghen play in the middle of the Mustangs’ roster and occupy the No. 2 doubles spot. Alver, a junior, holds a 9-2 singles record overall and is 4-2 at No. 3, where he played in the upset of Rice.
Faghen, a freshman, has one of the team’s best singles records. A native of Sweden, Faghen is 14-5 in singles this season. He plays predominantly at No. 5, where he holds a 7-4 record. He and Alver are the Mustangs’ most consistent doubles duo with 11 wins and six losses this season.
Solares, one of last week’s C-USA Players of the Week, boasts SMU’s best singles record of 14-3. The junior is 8-3 at No. 6 and has won nine of his last 10 matches.
Also on the Mustang roster is red-shirt freshman Chris Hooshyar. He and Solares often trade off at No. 6 and sometimes pair up at No. 3 doubles.
The winner of the SMU v. Southern Miss. match-up, which begins at 4 p.m., will take on the winner of the No. 2 seed Rice v. No. 7 seed Memphis contest.
