April 9, 2006
STILLWATER, Okla. - Baylor's men's tennis team continued its domination of Big 12 Conference play with a 4-3 win over No. 25 Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Sunday afternoon. The victory raises the Bears record to 16-4 on the season and 3-0 in league play while the Cowboys falls to 11-4 overall and 3-3 in league play.
The fifth-ranked Bears picked up the doubles point sweeping all three matches. Will Ward and David Galic, playing at No. 3, got off the court first with an 8-3 win over Felipe Diaz and Ivan Puchkarov. Matt Brown and Matija Zgaga posted an 8-4 win at No. 2 over Tomas Bohunicky and Artie Burmistrau, 8-4. Lars Poerschke and Michal Kokta, playing at the top spot, won their 11th straight match with an 8-4 victory over 45th-ranked Daniel and Nathan Byrnes.
Baylor took a 3-0 lead with singles wins by Kokta at No. 4 (6-3, 6-3) and Brown on court six, 6-4, 6-0. With the win, Kokta raised his win streak to 12 matches and is now 31-6 on the season. The Cowboys mounted a comeback that was short lived, however. Puchkarov, ranked No. 80, defeated Ward on court three (6-1, 6-4) and Burmistru defeated 105th-ranked Portnov at No. 5 singles (6-3, 6-3) to make the score 3-2. Poerschke, playing at No. 2 and ranked No. 12, clinched the match for the Bears in a straight-set win (6-3, 6-3) over Bohunicky. OSU gained its final point when 19th-ranked Daniel Byrnes downed Zgaga at No. 1, 4-6, 7-6, 10-4.
Baylor will travel to College Station on Wednesday to take on Texas A&M at 6 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The 19th-ranked Aggies are currently 13-7 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 action.
No. 5 Baylor 4, No. 25 OSU 3
Doubles
1. Porschke/Kokta def. No. 45 Byrnes/Nathan Byrnes, 8-4
2. Zgaga/Brown def. Bohunicky/Burmistrau, 8-4
3. Ward/Galic def. Diaz/Puchkarov, 8-3
Order of finish: 3,2,1
Singles
1. No. 19 Daniel Byrnes def. No. 45 Matija Zgaga, 4-6, 7-6, (10-4)
2. No. 12 Lars Poerschke def. Tomas Bohunicky, 6-3, 6-3
3. No. 80 Ivan Puchkarov def. Will Ward, 6-1, 6-4
4. No. 62 Michal Kokta def. Felipe Diaz, 6-3, 6-3
5. Artie Burmistrau def. No. 105 Vladimir Portnov, 6-2 6-4
6. No. 108 Matt Brown def. Olexsander Kotsiuk, 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish: 4, 6, 3, 5, 2, 1
