April 20, 2007

Houston, Texas - After struggling in doubles, No. 3 seed SMU rallied in singles to win the nightcap of the 2007 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship opening day action with a 4-0 victory over No. 6 seed Southern Miss (10-10) Friday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas.

SMU 4, SOUTHERN MISS 0

The 48th-ranked Mustangs (16-8) were the last to advance to Saturday's semifinals. SMU will face No. 2 seed Rice (14-10) at 3 p.m., following the UAB/Tulsa match at Noon. All four teams also appeared in the 2006 C-USA championship semifinals.

The doubles point did not come easy for SMU as the Mustangs won at No. 1, lost at No. 2 but clinched the point at No. 3. Federico Murgier and Alex Skrypko cruised to an 8-3 win over Southern Miss' Strate Krstevski and Andrew Poole. But, Southern Miss' Diego Machuca and Domagoj Anic pulled out a tight 9-8 (0) doubles win at No. 3 against David Kuczer and Adolfo Solares. That left it up to SMU's Oivind Alver and Robin Fahgen to clinch the first point of the match with a tight 8-6 win over Oscar Machuca and Markus Wessinghage at No. 2.

The Mustangs secured the match after Skrypko, who's 79th in the latest ITA Rankings, defeated Andrew Poole, 6-2, 6-4, for the fourth and final point of the day. The other two singles wins were at No. 3 and 5.

2007 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship
Houston, Texas * Jake Hess Tennis Stadium
April 20-22, 2007

MATCH FOUR QUARTERFINALS

#3 SMU (16-8), 4
#6 Southern Miss (10-10), 0

SINGLES
1. #79 Alex Skrypko, SMU def. Andrew Poole, Southern Miss, 6-2, 6-4
2. David Kuczer, SMU vs. Domagoj Anic, Southern Miss, DNF (6-4, 3-4)
3. Oivind Alver, SMU def. Diego Machuca, Southern Miss, 6-1, 6-2
4. Federico Murgier, SMU vs. Oscar Machuca, Southern Miss, DNF (6-2, 5-5)
5. Robin Fahgen, SMU def. Wren Hood, Southern Miss, 6-1, 6-1
6. Adolfo Solares, SMU vs. Strate Krstevski, Southern Miss, DNF (6-2, 4-3)

Order of Finish: 5, 3, 1

DOUBLES
1. Federico Murgier/Alex Skrypko, SMU def. Strate Krstevski/Andrew Poole, Southern Miss, 8-3
2. Oivind Alver/Robin Fahgen, SMU def. Oscar Machuca/Markus Wessinghage, Southern Miss, 8-6
3. Diego Machuca/Domagoj Anic, Southern Miss def. David Kuczer/Adolfo Solares, SMU, 9-8 (0)

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2