TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler men's tennis program will face off against their second Divison I foe of the season in SMU on Wednesday afternoon in Dallas, Texas. It will serve as a regular match and be the second to last non-conference match of the year for the Patriots.
THE SEASON SO FAR
The Patriots sit at 3-6 overall on the young season, but all three of their wins have been against impressive teams. They started their season with a top ten ranked NCAA Division III team in Southwestern and came away with a 7-0 victory. Against RV Harding the Patriots came away with a 4-3 win, and most recently the Patriots looked strong with a big 5-2 win over #22 Ferris State.
SERIES HISTORY
UT Tyler and the Mustangs have faced off one time in each of their program's histories, and SMU came away with the 5-2 win. That match took place on January 29, 2021 also in Dallas, Texas.
In that contest, the doubles pair of
Egor Shestakov and
Moritz Mayer won their match by a score of 6-3. Shestakov continued his success in singles, winning his match by a score of 7-5, 4-6, 1-0.
Jonas Dixon also collected the victory in his singles match by scores of 6-3, 6-2.
THE SCOUTING REPORT
The Mustangs are currently 8-4 on the season and have a pair of ranked wins over #18 Texas A&M and #35 San Diego. Most recently they came away with a 4-0 win over UTSA on Sunday.
Leading the way for SMU in singles is Liam Krall. Krall holds a 17-6 overall record in singles on the year and is 9-2 in their duals matches this season. He was the 2021 AAC Freshman of the Year and hails from Bronxville, New York.
On the doubles side, the combination of Adam Neff and Ivan Thamma lead the way for the Mustangs. The pair is 13-6 overall on the year and is 5-3 in dual matches. Neff hails from Bradenton, Florida, and Thamma is from San Diego, California.
Coaching SMU is Grant Chen. Chen became the head coach of the program prior to the 2018-2019 season. Most recently, he led the Mustangs to the AAC semifinals in the 2020-2021 season. Prior to taking the head coaching position with the Mustangs, he served as an assistant coach at UCLA for 15 seasons.
ON THE HORIZON
Following the Wednesday match against SMU, the Patriots will host their first home match of the year on Friday against Auburn Montgomery. That will also serve as the final non-conference match of the year for UT Tyler.
Starting on March 25, the Patriots will begin their run at a second consecutive LSC title with their first match against Cameron at 10 a.m. in Lawton, Oklahoma. That will be the first of seven LSC matches this year, culminating in the LSC Championship April 28-May 1.
