May 24, 2005

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Tennis fans got their money's worth on Tuesday evening when the Baylor Bears and the UCLA Bruins faced off in the NCAA Championships. The Bruins downed the Bears 4-3 in a marathon match at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.

UCLA's win snapped Baylor's 57-match win streak and handed the Bears their only loss of the season. Baylor finished the year at 33-1 while the Bruins ended the season with a 27-3 mark. The win by UCLA avenged last season's 4-0 loss to Baylor in the national championships match in Tulsa, Okla., and gave the Bruins their first men's tennis national championship since 1984.

In doubles, it was a race to see which two Baylor teams would finish first. In fact, the two teams who gained the doubles point for the Bears finished within seconds of each other. Even though Michal Kokta and Lars Poerschke, playing on court two, trailed 5-3, they finished out the match by winning five straight games to walk off the court first for the Bears. Benjamin Becker and Jon Reckewey quickly closed out their match on court three 8-4. On the top court, the All-American tandem of Benedikt Dorsch and Matija Zgaga were ready to post a win when play was halted. The led 7-4 and were up 40-15 in the final game when the match was clinched.

Entering singles Baylor needed just three points to claim victory. On court two, UCLA's 11th-ranked Benjamin Kohlloeffel posted a straight set win over 18th-ranked Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-2, which evened the score at one apiece. Baylor then jumped to a 3-1 lead with wins by Dorsch at the top spot, 6-1, 6-4 and Kokta at court four 6-4, 6-3. At that point, Baylor needed just one win from any of the three left on the court. UCLA posted victories at courts five and six when Alberto Francis posted a three set win (6-1, 4-6, 6-3) over Zgaga and Philipp Gruendler beat freshman Vladimir Portnov, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) to knot the score at 3-3.

With the outcome of the match resting on their shoulders, UCLA senior Kris Kwinta and Baylor freshman Lars Poerschke dueled to the end. Poerschke won the first set 6-4 but Kwinta rebounded to post a 6-4 second-set win. Kwiinta broke out to a 3-1 lead in the final stanza but Poerschke won three of the next five games to push the score to 5-4. With Kwinta serving, he took a 15-0 lead when both players were at the net furiously returning volleys but Kwinta was able to push one past Poerschke. Poerschke evened it at 15 all when he pulled Kwinta wide and the senior netted the return. Poerschke went up 30-15 when Kwinta hit long but the Bruin evened it with a scathing cross-court volley. Kwinta won the last two points and the match when Poerschke hit one into the net and then lobbed a ball that landed beyond the endline.

"It's tough to assess things when we're still so close to having lost the match. We're obviously very disappointed we lost the match. We're disappointed that we're losing two great seniors (Becker and Dorsch). Those two guys are completely irreplaceable. They're great students, great people, great players, great guys," said head coach Matt Knoll.

Dorsch was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second straight year and Michal Kokta was named to the all-tournament team at No. 4 singles. Baylor had two doubles teams honored as well, Kokta and Poerschke, who played at No. 2 and Benjamin Becker and Jon Reckewey at the three spot were named to the all-tournament team.

#6 UCLA 4, #1 Baylor 3

Doubles
Order of finish: 2, 3
1. #2 Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) vs. #19 Francis/Kwinta (UCLA) DNF
2. Kokta/Poerschke (BU) def. #58 Gruendler/Kohlloeffel (UCLA) 8-5
3. Becker/Jon Reckewey (BU) vs. Lam/Pampoulov (UCLA) 8-4

Singles
Order of finish: 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 3
1. #2 Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. #7 Luben Pampoulov (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4
2. #11 Benjamin Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. #18 Benjamin Becker (BU) 6-4, 6-2
3. #60 Kris Kwinta (UCLA) def. #50 Lars Poerschke (BU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. #106 Michal Kokta (BU) def. Chris Lam (UCLA) 6-4, 6-3
5. #109 Alberto Francis (UCLA) def. Matija Zgaga (BU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
6. #85 Philipp Gruendler (UCLA) def. Vladimir Portnov (BU) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)

The Bears have three players competing in the NCAA Singles Championship and one doubles team in the doubles draw. In the 64-player singles bracket play which begins on Wednesday, top-seeded Benedikt Dorsch will take on Penn State's Mark Barry, Lars Poerschke is matched up against Arizona's Roger Matalonga and Benjamin Becker, a 9-16 seed, will take on Jeff Kader of William & Mary.

Dorsch and sophomore Matija Zgaga enter the 32-team doubles bracket as the No. 2 seed. They have drawn Virginia's Nick Meythaler and Rylan Rizza, ranked No. 21, as their first opponent. The Baylor tandem posted an 8-6 win over the Virginia duo on Feb. 20 in the ITA National Team Indoor Tournament.