Men sweep weekend; women lose fifth straight

[PonyPride]

Men sweep weekend; women lose fifth straight
Chris Dell, Staff Writer, cdell@smu.edu

The SMU men's tennis team won its third competition in four tries on Saturday by roaring past the No. 32 California Golden Bears, 4-2, in the Pebble Beach (Calif.) Collegiate Classic.

It was SMU's second win over a ranked team in eight tries this season. The Mustangs (12-6) defeated San Francisco, 6-1, in their opening tournament match on Friday.

SMU will not leave Texas in its next seven matches. The Mustangs will face Columbia in a home match this Saturday and will travel to Waco to face No. 12 Baylor on March 27.

SMU's top three singles players all swept their weekend matches.

No. 117 David Kuczer, competing in the No. 1 spot, defeated No. 96 Kalim Stewart, from California, in straight sets (6-2, 6-4). He managed a three-set victory over San Francisco's Thong Tu (3-6, 6-2, 6-2).

No. 62 Robin Fahgen, who had played No. 1 singles this season but recently dropped to No. 2, downed both his opponents in straight sets. San Francisco's Asaf Cohen was Fahgen's first weekend victim, 6-4, 6-0. His 6-1, 6-2 victory over California's Eoin Heavey was SMU's most resounding victory on Saturday.

No. 3 Alex Skrypko dropped San Francisco's Rainer Nauchbauer, 6-3, 6-2, and California's Pedro Zerbini, 6-4, 7-5.

SMU's doubles teams won two of their three matches on Friday and didn't compete on Saturday, thanks to three rain delays that forced the cancellation of the doubles competitions.

In the No. 1 spot, Skrypko and Fahgen won their third match in a row on Friday, defeating Falko Huettenberger and Cohen, 8-4. After Kuczer and Adham el-Effendi narrowly lost the No. 2 match, 8-6, Oivind Alver and Chris Hooshyar rebounded the Mustangs with a resounding 8-3 victory.

Women drop two at home

The No. 70 SMU women missed a golden opportunity to recapture lost momentum, as they dropped two weekend home matches to ranked teams.

No. 47 Louisville was the first to conquer the Mustangs, 6-1, at the Garland Tennis Center on Friday. Then No. 62 Tulsa bounced the Mustangs, 5-2, at the same courts on Sunday.