Feb. 25, 2005

WACO, Texas - Top-ranked Baylor men's tennis defeated No. 16 Pepperdine 4-3 Friday, as the Bears held off the Waves' late charge to take the victory.

The Bears improve to 9-0 on the season and have now won a record 33-straight matches dating back to last season.

Baylor started strong in doubles action as No. 44 Benedikt Dorsch and Matija Zgaga took No. 21 Pedro Rico and Scott Doerner of Pepperdine 8-4. However the Bears were unable to get much going on the second and third courts and lost the doubles point to Pepperdine.

The Bears rebounded strong taking the first-three singles points of the night. Becker, 44th nationally, took No. 53 Scott Doerner 6-2, 6-2 evening the score at 1-1. No. 9 Dorsch quickly followed with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the first court over No. 24 Pedro Rico, giving Baylor its first lead of the night.

The Waves took the next two from Baylor on courts three and five to even the score at 3-3.

Newcomer Vladimir Portnov showed tremendous maturity on the sixth court as the youngster forced a third set after dropping the first 4-6. Portnov won the second set 6-4, and finally put Alexis Rafidison away 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 giving the Bears a 4-3 win.

Baylor returns to action Wednesday as the Bears travel to Florida. Match time is set for 12 p.m.

Doubles
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
1. #44 Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) def. #21 Rico/Doerner (PEPP) 8-4
2. Berg/Lovrak (PEPP) def. #43 Kokta/Poerschke (BU) 8-3
3. Johnson/Borzenski (PEPP) def. Becker/Reckewey (BU) 8-3

Singles Order of Finish: 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6
1. #9 Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. #24 Pedro Rico (PEPP) 6-1, 6-4
2. #44 Benjamin Becker (BU) def. #53 Scott Doerner (PEPP)6-2, 6-2
3. Jonas Berg (PEPP) def. #93 Matija Zgaga (BU) 6-3, 6-4
4. #19 Lars Poerschke (BU) def. Richard Johnson (PEPP) 7-5, 6-2
5. Ivor Lovrak (PEPP) def. Michal Kokta (BU) 7-6(3), 6-4
6. Vladimir Portnov (BU) def. Alexis Rafidison (PEPP) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4