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March 26, 2002
WACO, Texas -
#16 Baylor (15-1) vs.#41 SMU - Wed, Mar. 27, 6 p.m. , Waco
at #14 Duke - Sat., March 30, Noon, Durham, N.C.
Baylor, currently ranked No. 16 nationally and boasting a 15-1 overall record and 3-0 Big 12 mark, hosts No. 41 SMU on Wednesday and will travel to North Carolina to play #14 Duke on Saturday.
The SMU Mustangs come into the Baylor Tennis Center with a record of 11-10 overall. They are coming off a loss at 3rd-ranked Georgia. They are led by Krystian Pfeiffer, currently ranked No. 26. The Bears posted a 4-3 victory over SMU on Feb. 2 in Dallas. Baylor dropped the doubles point but went on to win four of the six singles matches to seal the win.
The match against Duke will pit No. 14 (Duke) against No. 16. Duke, currently 7-8 on the season, has four players ranked among the nation's elite. Phillip King leads the way at No. 14, Michale Yani is No. 58, Jason Zimmerman is No. 103 and Alex Bose is ranked No. 129. Despite the losing record, the Blue Devils are ranked No. 14. Their eight losses have all come at the hands of teams ranked 15th or above. They have lost twice to No. 1 UCLA and also dropped matches to No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 Texas, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 13 Tennessee and No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth. The Blue Devils will play a match prior to facing Baylor, they play at Wake Forest on Wednesday.
The Bears...
Matt Knoll's Bears have a six match winning streak going. Their lone loss of the season came at then-No. 9 Pepperdine, 5-2. The Bears currently have four players ranked nationally. Freshman Benjamin Becker leads the way at No. 7, while Zoltan Papp is No. 38, sophomore Markus Hornung is No. 74 and sophomore Reiner Neurohr is ranked No. 120.
Bears on Fire...
Junior Zoltan Papp and sophomore Matias Marin are two of the Bears' hottest player so far. In dual match competition, Papp, a native of Budapest, Hungary, is 12-1 in singles. He is 4-1 at No. 2 singles and 7-0 at No. 3. In addition, he is victorious in 18 of his last 20 matches. He had an 11 match winning streak snapped against Kentucky. Marin, a native of Rosario, Argentina, is 14-2 in dual match competition. He had a seven match win streak halted against #4 Kentucky but has won eight of his last nine and 14 of his last 16 matches.
After losing his first two dual matches, freshman Benjamin Becker has reeled off wins in 13 of his last 4 matches. His lone loss in that stretch came to Pepperdine's Al Garland, ranked No. 3 nationally. He recently defeated No. 5 Jesse Witten of Kentucky in straight sets.
