March 10, 2006

LOS ANGELES - The 7th-ranked Baylor Bears continued their winning ways against California teams when they defeated the 34th-ranked USC Trojans, on Friday afternoon at Mark Stadium. The Bears prevailed, 5-1, in singles play, as the teams opted to hold off on doubles action due to stormy skies. Baylor raised its record to 9-3 while the Trojans are now 6-6 in dual match play this season.

Baylor is now 3-0 versus teams in California this season after posting wins over Cal and Stanford on an earlier trip to the west coast. The Bears now lead the series with USC 4-2 and have won three straight against the Trojans.

Fifth-ranked Lars Poerschke, playing on the No. 2 court, got Baylor its first point of the match with a straight-set win over Jamil Al-Agba, 6-1, 6-2, while Michal Kokta followed with a two-set win over Adam Loucks (6-4, 6-2) at the No. 4 spot. Will Ward made it 3-0 Baylor with a win at No. 3 over Kaes Van't Hof, 6-2, 6-3. The Trojans gained their only point of the match when Dejan Cvetkovic upset 48th-ranked Matija Zgaga at the No. 1 court, 6-1, 7-6(5), 6-2. Baylor's Vladimir Portnov clinched the match for the Bears with a three-set triumph over Chong Wang (6-3, 3-6, 6-2). Freshman Matt Brown beat USC's Jeff Kazarian on court six (6-0, 7-5) to close out the match for Baylor.

Baylor next faces No. 6 UCLA (10-3) at 7 p.m. (CST) on Saturday (March 11). Live scoring will be available at www.uclabruins.com.

#7 Baylor 5, #34 USC 1

SINGLES
(1) Dejan Cvetkovic (USC) def. #48 Matija Zgaga (BU) -- 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-2
(2) #5 Lars Poerschke (BU) def. Jamil Al-Agba (USC) -- 6-1, 6-2
(3) Will Ward (BU) def. Kaes Van't Hof (USC) -- 6-2, 6-3
(4) #52 Michal Kokta (BU) def. Adam Loucks (USC) -- 6-4, 6-2
(5) #93 Vladimir Portnov (BU) def. Chong Wang (USC) -- 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
(6) Matt Brown (BU) def. Jeff Kazarian (USC) -- 6-0, 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 1, 5*, 6
* -- match-clinching win

DOUBLES
Not played