Sept. 24, 2006
WACO, Texas -
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Senior Michal Kokta kept Baylor's BU-HEB Intercollegiate singles championship streak in tact with a straight sets victory over eighth-ranked Erling Tveit of Ole Miss on Sunday in the tournament finals at the Baylor Tennis Center.
Kokta, ranked No. 23, posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over the left-handed Tveit to become the fifth straight Baylor player to win the singles championship. UT-Arlington's Andy Leber claimed the singles championship the first year of the tournament (2001) but since then Baylor players have won title five consecutive titles. Benedikt Dorsch won in 2002 and `03, current senior Matija Zgaga triumphed in 2004 and Lars Poerschke, a junior this season, claimed the 2005 crown.
Tveit served the first game of the match and barely held serve, the duo was at deuce several times before Tveit won the game. Kokta then won five straight games, breaking Tveit twice, to take a 5-1 lead before closing out the set at 6-2. In the second set Tveit held serve again in the first game and again, Kokta streaked out to a 4-1 lead. Tveit got back on track breaking Kokta's serve and holding his own to inch closer at 3-4. Each player held their serve to close out the match with Kokta delivering three service aces in the final game to claim the championship 6-4.
"Going in to the match I really didn't expect to win but it feels good that a Baylor player's name goes on the trophy again this year. These were my first matches since we finished NCAA play last season. I hadn't picked up a racket since then," said Kokta. "I knew I was up against a really good player and needed to play good tennis to win. Even though I lost the first game, I gained some momentum and confidence since we were at deuce several times. I knew at that point that I had a good chance."
"Michal did the things he needed to do today. His serve was pretty good, he served well enough to generate opportunities. Also, he was able to get to the net quite a bit and that helped," said head coach Matt Knoll.
Rice's Christoph Muller won the gold singles consolation and Wichita State's Boris Gubic and Goran Vujaklija claimed the doubles crown. In the green bracket, Tiago Espirito Santo (Wichita State) claimed the singles title while Rice's Dennis Polyakov triumphed in the consolation. Joseph Jung and Saketh Myneni (Alabama) earned the green doubles title.
BU - HEB Intercollegiate Winners
Gold Singles
#23 Michal Kokta (BU) def. #8 Erling Tveit (Ole Miss) 6-2, 6-4
Gold Singles Consolation
Christoph Muller (Rice) def. Raman Stoisavljevic (New Mexico State) 6-4, 6-3
Gold Doubles
Boris Gubic/Goran Vujaklija (Wichita State) def. #29 David North/Eric Molnar (Georgia Tech) 8-6
Green Singles
Tiago Espirito Santo (Wichita State) def. Mario Janjic (Lamar) 6-1, 6-3
Green Singles Consolation
Dennis Polyakov (Rice) def. JC Whitner (Miami) 9-8(3)
Green Doubles
Joseph Jung/Saketh Myneni (Alabama) def. Javier Hererra/Diego Mattar (UTA) 8-5
