No. 55 men's tennis knocks off No. 34 Middle Tennessee, 4-1

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 55 SMU Defeats No. 34 Middle Tennessee To Go 3-0 On Week

Story LinksDALLAS (SMU) – No. 55 SMU men's tennis earned its third win of the week by defeating No. 34 Middle Tennessee 4-1 at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on Sunday.

"The guys came to compete today," said Head Coach Grant Chen. "Today was one of our best performances overall as a united team, and it all began with doubles."

SMU improves to 13-6 on the season and 10-1 at home after capping off three wins in five days. The Mustangs have won five consecutive matches, including two against ranked opponents.

The Mustangs kicked off the afternoon by earning the team doubles point.

Maks Silagy and Julian Steinhausen teamed up to take court three in doubles play, defeating Middle Tennessee's Shu Matsuoka and Igor Mandou Berranger in a 6-0 shutout. Trevor Svajda and Louis Cloud then clinched the point for SMU with a 6-3 victory over Javier Cueto Ramos and Marcel Kamrowski.

"Maks and Julian never let up to get their 6-0 victory on the board," said Chen. "Trevor and Louis handled the momentum very well and finished strong to clinch the point."

Svajda also scored for the Mustangs in singles, claiming court one over No. 29 Leo Raquin in straight sets (6-2, 6-3). Svajda, a freshman, is now 12-3 in singles play and has beaten four ranked opponents.

"It was a great with for us as a team," said Svajda. "It was great to get a 4-1 win. All of the guys played incredibly well and I am very proud of our performance."

Jerry Barton extended SMU's lead to 3-0 by defeating Jakub Kroslak in straight sets (6-2, 6-3), marking the sophomore's 10th singles victory of the spring.

With the score 3-1, Cloud clinched the match for SMU with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win against Shu Matsuoka. Doing so, Cloud claimed his third singles victory of the week and ninth of the spring.

"Singles was a complete dog fight across all courts," said Chen. "To split first sets and for Louis and Eric to come back and force a third set was huge. Everyone laid it all out there for a tremendous victory over a very good team."

SMU travels to take on No. 14 San Diego at the Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center on Mar. 24 at 8 a.m. (CT).

Singles Scores:
1. No. 44 Trevor Svajda def. No. 29 Leo Raquin (6-2, 6-3)
2. Adam Neff vs. No. 114 Marcel Kamrowski (7-6, 4-5 – UNF)
3. Ondrej Horak def. Eric Hadigian (3-6, 6-2, 2-6)
4. Maks Silagy vs. Demis Taramonlis (6-7, 4-3 – UNF)
5. Jerry Barton def. Jakub Kroslak (6-2, 6-3)
6. Louis Cloud def. Shu Matsuoka (2-6, 6-1, 6-2)
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 3, 6

Doubles Scores:
1. No. 44 Adam Neff/Huntley Allen vs. Ondrej Horak/Leo Raquin (4-5 – UNF)
2. Trevor Svajda/Louis Cloud def. Javier Cueto Ramos/Marcel Kamrowski (6-3)
3. Maks Silagy/Julian Steinhausen def. Shu Matsuoka/Igor Mandou Berranger (6-0)
Order of Finish: 3, 2