Sept. 22, 2004

The Baylor men's tennis team begins their 2004-05 season hosting a 23-team tournament Sept. 24-26 at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco. The field of 23 is the largest tournament hosted by Baylor and includes three conference foes and nine interstate rivals.

In singles play, team representatives will be broken down into two brackets, A and B; while doubles matches will be lumped into one group. The first round of singles play begins Friday, Sept. 24 at 8 a.m. and doubles play will start later in the evening. This format will be consistent through the weekend with singles matches in the morning followed by doubles matches.

Four Bears will participate in the weekend tournament. Freshman Lars Poerschke and transfer Michal Kokta will see their first action in a Baylor uniform. Sophomores Barry McLaren and Matija Zgaga will lead the young group.

McLaren returns to action after sitting out last season in rehab from elbow surgery. He was named Academic All-Big 12 his freshman season after finishing with a 15-8 record. Zgaga finished last season 32-7 and 4-2 versus ranked opponents.

The championship matches will be held on Sunday, Sept. 26 in the afternoon. Results will be emailed and posted at the end of everyday. For posted results, go to www.usta.com. The tournament identification number is 809623004.