April 6, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 6 Notre Dame men’s tennis team leaves to cold climate of South Bend for warmer pastures this weekend when the Irish travel to face SMU on Saturday afternoon. First-serve with the Mustangs is scheduled 1:00 p.m. (CDT).
Notre Dame (18-3) is coming off arguably its most impressive victory of the 2007 season. The Irish thundered past No. 8 Illinois, 5-2, last Sunday afternoon despite dropping the doubles point. Notre Dame got singles victories from #9 senior Stephen Bass (Bronxville, NY), #54 junior Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, NE), senior Barry King (Dublin, Ireland), senior Ryan Keckley (South Bend, IN) and junior Andrew Roth (Houston, TX).
Notre Dame leads the all-time series with SMU by a slim 4-3 margin. The Irish and Mustangs have traded victories each of the last six years. Notre Dame has dropped all three of its meetings with SMU in Dallas (2001, 2003, 2005). In fact, two of those three defeats were by the slimmest of margins (4-3). Last year, the Irish knocked off the Mustangs, 5-2, in South Bend.
Scouting SMU
SMU is 13-8 this season and 0-1 in Conference USA. In their only C-USA match, the Mustangs lost to No. 27 Tulsa, 4-1, back on March 11. SMU was not ranked in the most recent ITA rankings.
Alex Skrypko plays No. 1 singles for the Mustangs and is 8-8 at the position so far this spring and 16-15 overall. Robin Fahgen and Adolfo Solares each have a team-best 12 singles wins in dual-match play. Overall, Skrypko leads the team with 16 victories.
Carl Neufeld, a 1979 graduate of Northern Illinois, is in his 14th season at the helm of the Mustangs. He is 256-123 at SMU and has a career mark of 437-227 in his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach.
— ND —