May 14, 2006
WACO, Texas - Baylor's men's tennis team advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the fourth consecutive season and sixth time in program history with its 4-0 win over the University of Tulsa on Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center.
Fourth-ranked Baylor advances to the NCAA Team Championship at Stanford University where it will face Washington, a 4-0 winner over Virginia Commonwealth. Baylor and Washington will play on Saturday, May 20 at 5 p.m. CDT in Palo Alto, Calif.
The beginning of the Baylor-Tulsa match was delayed due to a rainstorm that passed through the Waco area Sunday morning. The match, originally scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., began at 3:30 p.m.
Baylor earned the doubles point when it claimed wins at No. 1 and 2. Matt Brown and Matija Zgaga won at No. 2, 8-4, and Michal Kokta and Lars Poerschke, ranked No. 23, handed 59th-ranked Aleksander Charpantidis and Arnau Brugues an 8-4 loss.
The big matchup of the day featured 4th-ranked Poerschke and 7th-ranked Brugues on court one. The two players each held serve until the eighth game when Poerschke broke Brugues' serve but Brugues returned the favor the next game to make it 5-4. However, Poerschke broke back to claim the first set. The top-ranked BU player went on to claim Baylor's second point of the day. Ward, playing on court four, handed Gray a 6-4, 6-4 loss and a minute later, Zgaga clinched the match for the Bears with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court two.
"This was a great weekend for our program. I'm glad to get out of here quick before it started raining again. Our doubles were strong today and set the tone for the match," said head coach Matt Knoll.
"Lars' (Poerschke) match was a high-level match. It was a point that Tulsa thought they could pick up. Lars sustained his intensity throughout the match and that helped our momentum," he added.
The victory raises Baylor's record to 23-6 while Tulsa sees its season end at 18-11.
#4 Baylor 4, #34 Tulsa 0
Doubles
Order of finish: 2, 1
1. #23 Michal Kokta/Lars Poerschke (BU) def. #59 Aleksander Charpanditis/Arnau Brugues (TUL) 8-4
2. Matt Brown/Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Ross Cuningham/Andy Connelly (TUL) 8-4
3. David Galic/Will Ward (BU) vs. Federico Soriano/Will Gray (TUL) DNF
Singles
Order of finish: 1, 4, 2
1. #4 Lars Poerschke (BU) def. #7 Arnau Brugues (TUL) 6-4, 6-3
2. #65 Matija Zgaga (BU) def. #62 Federico Soriano (TUL) 6-4, 6-2
3. #29 Michal Kokta (BU) vs. #115 Richardo Soriano (TUL) DNF
4. Will Ward (BU) def. Will Gray (TUL) 6-4, 6-4
5. #124 Matt Brown (BU) vs. Ross Cunningham (TUL) DNF
6. Vladimir Portnov (BU) vs. Diego Camacho (TUL) DNF
