March 1, 2003

WACO, Texas - Baylor Baylor's men's tennis team, ranked No. 4 nationally, posted a 6-1 victory over the No. 13 Minnesota Gophers on Saturday afternoon in Waco to raise their season record to 10-1. The Gophers drop to 7-2 with the loss.

The Bears gained the doubles point when the teams of Benjamin Becker/Zoltan Papp and Benedikt Dorsch/Reiner Neurohr each posted victories. Becker and Papp, playing at No. 3, swept by Minnesota's Chris Wettengel and Aleksy Zharinov 8-1. Next, Dorsch and Neurohr, ranked No. 34 nationally, defeated Clay Estes and Manuel Lievano at the top doubles spot. Estes and Lievano are No. 30 in the national rankings. Baylor's Ivor Lovrak and Matias Marin dueled to the end before dropping a close one to Minnesota's Eric Robertson and Avery Ticer. The Gophers' downed the Baylor duo 8-7 by winning the tiebreaker 10-8.

In singles the Bears raced through the singles matches with only one position going to three sets. Baylor's bottom three spots would be the first matches to post victories. Benjamin Becker, playing at No. 4, was the first Bear to walk off the court when he swept past Avery Ticer, 6-3, 6-0. Reiner Neurohr defeated Clay Estes, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 5 and Ivor Lovrak posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Eric Robertson at No. 6 Lovrak's victory clinched the match for the Bears. Zoltan Papp, despite trailing 3-4 in the first set at No. 3, ended up winning 6-4, 6-2 and, after being extended in the first set, Benedikt Dorsch eeked out a 7-6(2) first-set win then cruised to a 6-2 second set to claim victory. At No. 2, Matias Marin dropped the first set 7-6 (4) in a tiebreaker to Chris Wettengel but roared back to claim the second set 6-1. But, since the match outcome had been decided at the point, the two would play a 10-point tiebreaker. Wettengel would win the tiebreaker 10-2 to earn Minnesota's only victory of the day.

"We didn't play our best tennis today, we are pretty fried mentally after the National Indoor Tournament," said head coach Matt Knoll. "I'm glad though that we did win against a quality team. We just have to continue to build and continue to get better."

Next up for the Bears is a match on Sun., March 2 at 1 p.m. when they host Middle Tennessee State University at the Baylor Tennis Center.

#4 Baylor 6, #13 Minnesota 1

Doubles
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
1. #34 Dorsch/Neurohr, BU def. #30 Estes/Lievano, UM 8-6
2. Robertson/Ticer, UM def. Lovrak/Marin, BU 8-7 (10-8)
3. Becker/Papp, BU def. Wettengel/Zharinov, UM 8-1

Singles
Order of finish: 4, 5, 6, 3, 1, 2
1. #1 Benedikt Dorsch, BU def. #93 Aleksey Zharinov, UM 7-6(2), 6-2
2. Chris Wettengel, UM def. #30 Matias Marin, BU 7-6(4), 1-6, 10-2
3. #51 Zoltan Papp, BU def. Manuel Lievano, UM 6-4, 6-2
4. #67 Benjamin Becker, BU def. Avery Ticer, UM 6-3, 6-0
5. Reiner Neurohr, BU def. Clay Estes, UM 6-1, 6-3
6. #105 Ivor Lovrak, BU def. Eric Robertson, UM 6-2, 6-2