April 15, 2003
WACO, Texas - For the second straight season, the Baylor men's tennis team defeated Texas A&M for sole possession of the Big 12 Championship. The Bears defeated the Aggies 4-3 at the Baylor Tennis Center on Tuesday night to claim their third Big 12 title in four years. Although the score sounds close, the Bears won the doubles point then won the first three singles matches to secure the victory.
The triumph raised the sixth-ranked Bears' record to 21-1 overall and 7-0 in Big 12 play. The Aggies, currently ranked No. 10, fell to 20-7 and 4-2.
The teams not only battled each other but weather conditions as well. The evening was plagued with strong, blustery winds which made play challenging.
"The conditions were so tough at the end of the match you, just try to give yourself a chance to win. It was nice to go up 4-0. We were pushed in doubles which is good for us. I thought our No. 1 team (Dorsch and Neurohr) did a good job, beating a top five doubles team (Cook and Matijevic)," said head coach Matt Knoll.
In doubles action Texas A&M's Ryan Newport and Khaled El Dorry, ranked No 60 and playing at No. 3, posted an 8-6 victory over Baylor's Ivor Lovrak and Matias Marin. The Aggie tandem streaked out to a 7-3 lead in the match but Lovrak and Marin won three straight games to close to within 7-6. However, Newport and El Dorry closed out the match 8-6. Baylor's Zoltan Papp and Benjamin Becker made quick work of the Aggie duo of John Nallon and Matt Loucks at No. 2, downing the Aggie tandem 8-2. The doubles point was decided in dramatic fashion, coming down to the No. 1 position to decide the outcome. Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch and Reiner Neurohr eventually downed the nation's fifth-ranked duo of Lester Cook and Ante Matijevic 9-8. With the match tied at eight games each, the tiebreaker went into effect. The Bears leapt out to a 4-2 lead before the Aggie duo won four straight points to take the lead 6-4. At that point, Dorsch and Neurohr took control and posted an 8-6 tiebreaker win.
Ivor Lovrak, Matias Marin and Benjamin Becker were the first singles matches off the court for the Bears and all four posted straight set victories. It took Lovrak, playing at No. 6, just 43 minutes to defeat John Nallon, 6-1, 6-0. Marin and Becker, playing at Nos. 4 and 3 respectively, finished their matches within a minute of each other. Marin defeated Khaled El Dorry 7-6(4), 6-1 and Becker, ranked No. 92, beat 48th-ranked Ante Matijevic 6-3, 6-4. Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch had an 18-match winning streak snapped when he lost at No. 1 to Ryan Newport, 7-6(5), 6-3. The Aggies' Lester Cook halted Zoltan Papp's winning streak at 11 with a 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-7) super tiebreaker win.The most dramatic match of the night came at No. 5 singles between the Aggies' Matt Loucks and Baylor's Reiner Neurohr. Neurohr, playing in his third super tiebreaker in his last four matches, ended up losing the match in a marathon tiebreaker. He dropped the first set 6-2, came back and won the second set in a tiebreaker then lost the match in the super tiebreaker 18-16.
The Bears close out their regular season on Thursday, April 17 when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6 p.m. at the Baylor Tennis Center. Seniors Zoltan Papp and Mike Garcia will be honored between doubles and singles.
#6 Baylor, 4, #10 Texas A&M 3
Doubles
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
1. Benedikt Dorsch/Reiner Neurohr, BU def. #5 Lester Cook/Ante Matijevic, TAMU 9-8 (6)
2. #31 Benjamin Becker/Zoltan Papp, BU def. John Nallon/Matt Loucks, TAMU 8-2
3. #60 Ryan Newport/Khaled El Dorry, TAMU def. #45 Ivor Lovrak/Matias Marin, BU 8-6
Singles
Order of finish: 6, 4, 3, 1, 2, 5
1. #19 Ryan Newport, TAMU def. #1 Benedikt Dorsch, BU 7-6(5), 6-3
2. #39 Lester Cook, TAMU def. #42 Zoltan Papp, BU 7-5, 5-7, 1-0(10-7)
3. #92 Benjamin Becker, BU def. #48 Ante Matijevic, TAMU 6-3, 6-4
4. #36 Matias Marin, BU def. Khaled El Dorry, TAMU 7-6(4), 6-1
5. Matt Loucks, TAMU def. #109 Reiner Neurohr, BU 6-2, 6-7(6), 1-0 (18-16)
6. Ivor Lovrak, BU def. John Nallon, TAMU 6-1, 6-0
