SMU Tennis Defeats Abilene Christian

via SMU

DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU men’s tennis team earned the first win of the season over Abilene Christian University, in a 7-0 sweep.

SMU (1-0) won the first point of the match winning all three doubles match ups, starting with Samm Butler and Ronald Slobodchikov’s 6-1 victory over ACU’s Henry Adams and Jon Sheehy. Markus Kerner and Yates Johnson on court one and Hunter Johnson and Arkadijs Slobodkins on court three quickly followed as Kerner/Y. Johnson beat the Wildcats 6-4 and H. Johnson/Slobodkins added a 6-3 victory.

The Mustangs’ momentum continued into singles play as Slobodchikov was the first Mustang to victory beating ACU’s Josh Sheehy in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Slobodkins earned SMU’s third point of the night, beating Hunter Holman, 6-3, 6-4.

Senior Markus Kerner gave SMU the fourth point and secured the team victory beating Henry Adams 6-4 in the first set and 7-5 in a close second set.

After dropping the first set, 6-4, to ACU’s Jon Sheehy, Hunter Johnson fought back to claim the second and third set, 6-3, 6-3. In similar fashion, Yates Johnson fell to ACU’s Cole Lawson 7-6 in the opening set but still pulled off the victory, winning straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

“ACU is a very good team,” head coach Carl Neufeld said. “They’re very tough, especially at the top of the lineup. I was really impressed with our doubles because they always have very good doubles. We were able to win the doubles, which was great. I thought we played very, very well and I’m happy with how we got through the first match.”

Next, SMU hosts No. 4 Texas Sunday Jan. 15 at 4:30 pm.