ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's tennis team lost its first regional dual of the spring, falling 7-0 Saturday afternoon to the Mustangs of SMU at the Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas.
ACU fell to 4-5 with the loss, while SMU - of the American Athletic Conference - improved to 4-3.
"I thought we competed well," said head coach
Hutton Jones, "but it's hard to beat a very tough team like SMU. However, it was good for us to play that level."
The Mustangs began the dual with a sweep of doubles before winning five of six singles matches in straight sets. No. 73 Arturs Kazijevs - who is ranked 10th in the region - doubled up ACU junior Borja Cortés, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1, and Mischa Nowicki did the same at No. 2 to sophomore
Nicklas Wingord.
Sophomore
Marco Bensley put up a fight at No. 6, but ended up losing in three sets to Nate Lammons, 6-4, 5-6, 6-0.
Lammons and Alex Sanders are the Texas region's No. 8 doubles team and they blanked freshman
Nico Agritelley and junior
Guilherme Gesser at the No. 2 position, 6-0. Cortés and Wingord fell 6-1 at No. 1 to Kazijevs/Nowicki, and at No. 3, sophomore
Jason Proctor and junior
Michael Morris were edged 6-4 by Arkidjas Slobodkins and Tony Russell.
The Wildcats return to action in two weeks in Las Cruces, N.M. for matches vs. New Mexico State and Western New Mexico.
Southern Methodist 7, Abilene Christian 0
Feb 08, 2014 at Dallas, Texas (Bent Tree Country Club)
Singles competition
1. #73 Arturs Kazijevs (SMU) def. Borja Cortés (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Mischa Nowicki (SMU) def.
Nicklas Wingord (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Alex Sanders (SMU) def.
Guilherme Gesser (ACU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Tony Russell (SMU) def.
Jason Proctor (ACU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Arkidjas Slobodkins (SMU) def.
Nico Agritelley (ACU) 6-4, 6-1
6. Nate Lammons (SMU) def.
Marco Bensley (ACU) 6-4, 5-6, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Arturs Kazijevs/Mischa Nowicki (SMU) def. Borja Cortés/
Nicklas Wingord (ACU) 6-1
2. Nate Lammons/Alex Sanders (SMU) def.
Nico Agritelley/
Guilherme Gesser (ACU) 6-0
3. Arkidjas Slobodkins/Tony Russell (SMU) def.
Jason Proctor/
Michael Morris (ACU) 6-4
Match Notes
Abilene Christian 4-5
Southern Methodist 4-3
