Feb. 19, 2005

CHICAGO, Ill. - After taking the doubles point and first-two singles matches, top-ranked Baylor men's tennis battled with No. 3 Illinois to a seventh match before claiming victory Saturday at the ITA Team National Indoor in Chicago.

Baylor started the day immediately taking the first two in doubles to take the point. Lars Poerschke and Michal Kokta won the first match in haste fashion 8-2. Then, Benedikt Dorsch and Matija Zgaga took the match on the first court against Ryler DeHeart and Kevin Anderson 8-5 to take the doubles point from the Illini.

The Bears wasted no time in singles action winning the first two matches. Dorsch defeated No. 2 Ryler DeHeart 6-3, 6-4 in the first court. Kokta followed suit winning the point in the fifth court against Ryan Rowe 7-5, 6-4 giving the Bears an early 3-0 lead.

The Illini battled back taking three in a row on courts two, three and six, evening the contest 3-3.

Baylor finally sealed the victory when No. 45 Matija Zgaga defeated Monte Tucker in a three-set marathon. Zgaga took the first set 7-5, but Tucker quickly evened things with a 6-2 second-set win. Zgaga rebounded to take the third set 6-4, winning the point and the match for Baylor.

Baylor takes on the No. 9 seed, and No. 9 nationally, Virginia Sunday in the finals round. Virginia defeated Stanford 4-1 in the round of 16, UCLA 4-2 in the quarterfinals and Ole Miss 4-1 in the semifinals. Match time is set for 1 p.m.

2005 USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship
No. 1 seed Baylor 4, No. 5 seed Illinois 3
Doubles: Order of finish: 2, 1
1. Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) def. DeHeart/Anderson (ILL) 8-5
2. Poerschke/Kokta (BU) def. Jones/Rowe (ILL) 8-2
3. Becker/Reckewey (BU) vs. Dabir/Zeder (ILL) 6-2 (DNF)

Singles: Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 3, 2, 4
1. Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. #2 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) 6-3, 6-4
2. #42 GD Jones (ILL) def. Benjamin Becker (BU) 6-4, 7-6 (4)
3. Kevin Anderson (ILL) def. #11 Lars Poerschke (BU) 6-4, 6-4
4. #45 Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Monte Tucker (ILL) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
5. Michal Kokta (BU) def. Ryan Rowe (ILL) 7-5, 6-4
6. Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Vladimir Portnov (BU) 6-4, 6-1

For complete tournament results, go to: http://fightingillini.collegesports.com/genrel/NationalIndoors-Draws-Results.html