IRVING, Texas – SMU’s men’s tennis team has earned the No. 1 seed for the 2022 American Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Championship, which begins Friday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
 
The men’s championship begins Friday, April 22, and continues through the April 24 final. The winner of the men’s championship will earn The American’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships.
 
Seeds for the championships are determined by the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.
 
SMU earned the No. 1 seed for the first time after the Mustangs went 19-6 in the regular season, including eight wins against ranked teams and seven wins against American Athletic Conference teams. SMU went 7-0 in road matches, marking the first time since 1999 that the Mustangs went unbeaten on the road.
 
Complete coverage of The American Tennis Championships, including live scoring of each match, can be found on the conference’s Championship Central site. Live coverage of the women’s and men’s finals will be available on ESPN+.
 
 
Championship Notes

• South Florida has won five of the first seven American Athletic Conference titles. The Bulls have gone 19-2 all-time in The American Championship.
   
• The only teams other than South Florida to win an American Athletic Conference Championship were Tulane, which claimed the 2018 crown, and UCF, which won last year’s title.
   
• The No. 1-seeded team has won four American Athletic Conference titles. South Florida won as the top seed in 2015, 2016 and 2017, while UCF claimed the championship from the No. 1 position in 2021.
   
• Five of the 20 matches between American Athletic Conference teams in the regular season were decided by 4-3 scores.
   
• Six American Athletic Conference teams were listed in the April 13 ITA rankings. SMU was No. 27, Memphis was No. 37, South Florida was No. 40, UCF was No. 46, Tulsa was No. 49 and Tulane was No. 69. Updated rankings (which produced the seeds for this year’s tournament) will be released by the ITA April 20.
   
• The highest-ranked singles player in The American, as of the April 13 rankings, was Tulsa’s Kody Pearson, who was ranked No. 87. Trey Hilderbrand of UCF is No. 90.
   
• The American’s highest-ranked doubles tandem is David Stevenson/Jeremy Taylor of Memphis, who were ranked No. 21 last week. Trey Hilderbrand/Bogdan Pavel were ranked No. 36, one spot ahead of South Florida’s Rithvik Bollipalli/Bruno Oliveira at No. 37. UCF’s Leyton Cronje/Bogdan Pavel are No. 39, SMU’s Adam Neff/Ivan Thamma are No. 59, Tulsa’s Connor DiMarco/Kody Pearson are No. 73, SMU’s Pranav Kumar/Adam Neff are No. 82 and UCF’s Leyton Cronje/Cooper White are No. 84

 
2022 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
April 22-24 | Michael D. Case Tennis Center | Tulsa, Oklahoma
 

Quarterfinals | Friday, April 22
No. 8 Temple (11-9) vs. No. 1 SMU (19-6)	10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT
No, 5 UCF (8-14) vs. No. 4 South Florida (13-9)	10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT
No. 6 Tulane (7-14) vs. No. 3 Tulsa (14-10)	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT
No. 7 Wichita State (11-13) vs. No. 2 Memphis (13-7)	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT
Semifinals | Saturday, April 23
Temple/SMU winner vs. UCF/South Florida winner	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT
Tulane/Tulsa winner vs. Wichita State/Memphis winner	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT
Final | Sunday, April 24 | ESPN+
Semifinal winners	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT