Sept. 21, 2005

WACO, Texas - The Baylor men's tennis team will kick-off fall action this weekend hosting the fifth annual Baylor Invitational tournament at the Baylor Tennis Center. Tournament action will begin at 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 23, and will finish up on Sunday with the semi final and final rounds. Baylor expects players from 17 schools to participate this year with a 70-player singles field and 24 doubles teams.

The Bears will show a strong representation in the tournament with seven members of the men's tennis team participating in singles play. The tournament will feature two singles flights and one doubles flight. Matt Brown, Michal Kokta, Lars Poerschke, Vladimir Portnov, Jon Reckewey, Leos Vanzura and Matija Zgaga will compete in the A-Flight singles draw for the Bears.

"We are excited about the great players, great teams and great coaches coming out," Baylor head coach Matt Knoll said. "We have had a great field every year and we are glad to have that again. It gives our players an opportunity to get better."

Boise State's Luke Shields holds the No. 1 seed for the tournament. Shields, who was named an All-American in both singles and doubles play last year, holds a preseason ranking of No. 13, making him the highest ranked participant in the tournament. Baylor's Poerschke came in at No. 25 in preseason rankings and holds the No. 2 spot in the tournament. Oklahoma's Marek Belicka, ranked No. 35 and No. 51 Brandon Wai of Yale are also top seeded in the tournament. Other seeded Baylor players include Kokta, Portnov and Zgaga.

Schools participating in the tournament include: Alabama, Baylor, Boise State, Lamar, Laredo, Montana State, Nebraska, New Mexico, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Santa Clara, TCU, Texas A&M, UT Arlington, UT San Antonio, Wichita State and Yale.

Results will be posted at www.baylorbears.com.