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May 6, 2003
Baylor at NCAA Tournament, First and Second Rounds
May 9-10 - Baylor Tennis Center
Waco, Texas
For the second time in the program's history, the Baylor men's tennis team has been selected to host first and second round matches in the NCAA Tennis Tournament. Baylor previously hosted the NCAAs in 2000 when the Bears hosted Marist and Mississippi State. Baylor won their first round match against Marist 4-0 then defeated Mississippi State 4-2. This will be the Bears' sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, all six have come since the arrival of head coach Matt Knoll. The string of consecutive appearances began in 1998.
NCAA Tournament, 1st and 2nd rounds
Baylor Tennis Center
Friday, May 9
3 p.m. - #24 TCU vs. SMU
7 p.m. - #3 Baylor vs. UT-Arlington
Saturday, May 10
6 p.m. - winners of Friday matches
The winner of Saturday's match will advance to the round of 16 at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex, site of the 2003 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships, May 17-26. The complete schedule starting with the round of 16 is as follows: Round of 16 (Sat., May 17), quarterfinals (Sun., May 18), semifinals (Mon., May 19) and the national championship (Tues., May 20).
Ticket Info ...
Ticket prices for the Baylor regional are: $10 for premium seating, $5 for adults and $3 for students each day. Tournament passes also are available for $15, $8 and $5. For ticket information, contact the Baylor Athletic Ticket Office, 254-710-1000 or 1-800-BAYLORU.
Baylor in the NCAA Tournament...
The Bears are 7-5 in NCAA Tournament play. Their highest finish was in 1999 when they reached the quarterfinals but were eliminated, 4-3, by host Georgia.
Here's the Bears' NCAA Tournament breakdown:
First round - 3-2
Second round - 3-0
Round of 16 - 1-2
Quarterfinals - 0-1
Semifinals - 0-0
Finals - 0-0
1998
First round - Lost to #44 TCU, 4-2
1999
First round - Defeated #67 Indiana State, 4-1
Second round - Defeated #20 Harvard, 4-1
Round of 16 - Defeated #5 Stanford, 4-3
Quarterfinals - Lost to #6 Georgia, 4-3
2000 - 5th seed
First round - Defeated Marist College, 4-0
Second round - Defeated #24 Mississippi State, 4-2
Round of 16 - Lost to #11 TCU, 4-1
2001
First round - Lost to #40 Tulane, 4-2
2002 - 6th seed
First round - Def. Hartford, 4-0
Second Round - Def. Harvard, 4-0
Round of 16 - Lost to #11 USC, 4-2
2003 - 2nd seed
First round - vs. UT-Arlington
Bears Versus the Field...
Baylor posted victories over TCU and SMU this season. The Bears defeated TCU, ranked No. 36 at the time, on April 2, 5-2 in Fort Worth and beat then-No. 31 ranked SMU 6-1 on Feb. 1 in Waco and again on April 8, 5-2 in Dallas.
Team Notes...
SMU - The Mustangs enter the tournament with a record of 16-11... SMU head coach Carl Neufeld enters first-round action with 193 all-time wins ... Junior Johan Brunstrom earned first-team All-WAC honors along with doubles partner freshman Henrik Soderberg, marking the third consecutive year Brunstrom has garnered All-WAC honors ... SMU's biggest victory this spring was a 4-3 win over 18th-ranked LSU on April 14 ... No SMU players were selected to participate in this year's NCAA Men's Tennis Singles/Doubles Championships .
TCU - The Horned Frogs are currently 15-8 overall and ranked No. 24 nationally ... Head coach Joey Rive' is in his third season at TCU and has won 50 matches and lost 24 while there ... Two Frogs are ranked among the nation's top 100 players; Alex Menichini is their highest ranked player at No. 81 while Toni Gordon is No. 86 ... The doubles tandem of Gordon and Fabrizio Sestini is No. 49 ... This season TCU was honored with the C-USA Sportsmanship Award as a team and senior Toni Gordon was honored, along with four other players, as an individual ... Junior Alex Menichini was named First Team All-Conference for the 2003 season while sophomore Fabrizio Sestini and Toni Gordon were named Second Team All-Conference ... TCU has made 18 appearances in the NCAA Tournament (including regional action) Not including this season ... TCU finished second in C-USA behind No. 15 Tulane ... The current ITA ranking of 24th is the highest for TCU this season.
UTA - UTA is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years ... The Mavericks fell to host TCU in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament ... Texas-Arlington won the Southland Conference regular season title ... Current Maverick Nathan McGregor, the 2003 SLC Newcomer of the Year, is familiar with the surface at the Baylor Tennis Center. The junior spent his first two years playing at Baylor before transferring to UTA prior to the 2002-03 season ... Last year, McGregor and his Baylor doubles partner, Markus Hornung, were ranked 18th in the nation ... McGregor and UTA's David Corrie were ranked 15th nationally in the preseason doubles poll, but were split early in the fall ... Freshman Sandy Farquharson was named to the All-SLC first team at the No. 5 singles position, while doubles team Javier Carrillo and Alon Goldshuv were named first team All-SLC at No. 3 doubles.
Baylor Quick Notes...
* The Bears have been ranked No. 3 for eight weeks this season.
* A record four Baylor players have been selected to participate in the NCAA Tennis singles an doubles competition. Benedikt Dorsch, the tournament's No. 2 seed, will be joined by teammates Benjamin Becker, Zoltan Papp and Matias Marin. In addition, Dorsch and Reiner Neurohr were selected for the doubles draw. Papp and Becker are third alternates.
* Baylor No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament is the program's highest tournament seed yet.
* The 2003 Bears have won 16 straight matches. Their last loss, the only one of the season, came in the National Team Indoor Tournament to second-ranked Illinois.
* The Bears are 52-3 over the past two seasons, 27-2 in 2002 and 25-1 so far this year.
* With 42 singles wins already this season, Benedikt Dorsch has the most singles wins in a season in the program's history. Ivor Lovrak jumped on the list at the No. 5 with his 36 wins.
* Ivor Lovrak is the only Bear to remain undefeated in dual match play with a record of 18-0.
* Five Bears are ranked nationally, No. 2 Benedikt Dorsch, No. 41 Benjamin Becker, No. 44 Zoltan Papp, No. 45 Matias Marin and freshman Ivor Lovrak checks in at No. 97.
* Zoltan Papp is first on the Baylor all-time career singles wins list with 99, teammate Matias Marin for fourth on the all-time career singles wins list with 79, Reiner Neurohr and Benjamin Becker are both at the No. 8 spot with 64 career singles wins.
* Three players finished Big 12 play undefeated. Benjamin Becker and Matias Marin are 7-0 and Ivor Lovrak is 5-0.
* Freshman Ivor Lovrak has won 18 straight matches this season, his last loss came on Nov. 11 against No. 97 Francis Huot of Virginia Tech, 7-5, 6-3.
* Baylor reeled off a school-record 18 straight wins last season before the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament with a loss to the eventual national champion Southern California.
* Prior to this season, the last time the Bears were ranked at the No. 3 position was on March 23, 1999.
* The 2002 campaign was the most successful in the program's history at 27-2.
* The Bears' No. 3 preseason ranking is the team's highest preseason ranking ever.
Baylor Places Record Number of Individuals in NCAAs...
For the first time in the program's history four Baylor men's tennis players have been selected to the singles draw of the NCAA Tennis Tournament. In addition, the team qualified a doubles team.
Sophomores Benedikt Dorsch, the tournament's No. 2 seed, and Benjamin Becker, senior Zoltan Papp and junior Matias Marin all were selected for singles and Dorsch and junior Reiner Neurohr enter the 32-draw doubles tournament. Becker and Papp are alternates for the doubles. This is just the third time in the program's history that Baylor has sent more than one singles player to the tournament. Becker and Papp will be making their second appearance, both advanced to the round of 32 last year before losing. Also, Johann Jooste and current Baylor assistant coach Pawel Gajdzik were selected in 1999.
