Jan. 19, 2005

WACO, Texas - - Top-ranked men's tennis travels south this weekend for the 7th Annual Met/Rice Indoor Invitational at the Downtown Club at the Met in Houston.

This weekend's tournament is the second of the like this spring for the Bears. Baylor is one of 10 teams from across the nation in participation. Abilene Christian, No. 13 Kentucky, Nebraska, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 16 Rice, No. 36Texas, Texas UT-San Antonio, No. 70 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tyler Junior College round out the field.

Seniors Benny Becker and Benedict Dorsch return to action for the Bears. Becker won the 2004 NCAA Singles Championship and Dorsch, the top-seeded player this weekend, ended the 2004 season ranked No. 1 in the ITA rankings. Both players did not participate during the fall.

Freshman No. 11 Lars Poerschke enters the tournament with the strongest-national ranking on Baylor's squad. Poerschke advanced to the semifinals of the Sherwood Collegiate Cup before falling to No. 8 Benjamin Kohlloeffel 6-3, 6-4.

Sophomore Matija Zgaga and Dorsch team up for the first time since last season in doubles action. The tandem played at No. 1 for Baylor in 2004 and won eight consecutive before losing in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.

Fresno State transfer Greg Shearer was notable in his first action for Baylor last weekend at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup. Shearer advanced to the doubles finals, mixed with Markus Dickhardt of San Diego State before the duo fell to Lars Poerschke and Michal Kokta.

Vladimir Portnov and Jon Reckewey will see their first action of the season this weekend. Portnov recently transferred to Baylor and Reckewey did not play during the fall.

Action begins Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. with singles action, followed by doubles matches beginning approximately at 6 p.m.