SMU men’s tennis battled No. 24 Stanford to the wire as Georgi Georgiev, Trevor Svajda and Alex Finkelstein won key matches in a narrow 4-3 loss.
SMU men’s tennis pushed a ranked opponent to the brink Friday night, but a razor-thin finish left the Mustangs walking away from Stanford with a 4-3 defeat.
Facing No. 24 Stanford, the No. 36 SMU men’s tennis team delivered a gritty performance highlighted by three impressive singles victories. Despite those efforts, the Cardinal escaped with the win after clinching the final match in a tense third-set battle.
The night started in familiar fashion for Stanford.
The Cardinal grabbed early momentum by taking the doubles point, winning on courts one and two and immediately putting SMU in catch-up mode. From there, the match turned into a back-and-forth war across the singles courts.
Stanford pushed its lead to 2-0 when Alex Razeghi defeated SMU’s Jerry Barton in straight sets. But the Mustangs refused to fade quietly.
Georgi Georgiev delivered one of the biggest wins of the night, taking down No. 58 Hudson Rivera 6-4, 6-4 in a composed performance.
The victory marked Georgiev’s highest-ranked win of the season and improved his singles record to 11-3, including four wins over ranked opponents this year.
Stanford answered again when Jagger Leach outlasted Krish Arora in three sets to give the Cardinal a 3-1 advantage. That set the stage for a dramatic SMU rally.
Trevor Svajda, ranked No. 2 nationally, kept the Mustangs alive, defeating Samir Banerjee 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. The victory marked Svajda’s 14th singles win of the season and extended his winning streak to five matches.
Moments later, Alex Finkelstein delivered another huge result, knocking off No. 112 Alex Chang 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to tie the match at 3-3. The win was Finkelstein’s second victory over a ranked opponent this season, adding to his earlier upset of Ohio State’s No. 22 Preston Stearns.
Everything came down to Court 6.
In the deciding match, Stanford’s Nico Godsick edged Noah McDonald 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, sealing the narrow win for the Cardinal.
The Mustangs now sit 3-2 in ACC play and will look to bounce back quickly when they face No. 53 California on Sunday in Berkeley.