Feb. 10, 2007
WACO, Texas - Baylor men's tennis, ranked No. 8, upset third-ranked and previously unbeaten UCLA, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the Baylor Tennis Center.
Senior Matija Zgaga clinched the match for the Bears on court No. 4 with a come-from-behind victory over UCLA junior Mathieu Dehaine.
Baylor started strong by winning the doubles point, the first point scored against UCLA this season. Lars Poerschke and Zgaga claimed victory first for the Bears with an 8-4 win on court two over Haythem Abid and Chris Surapol. Michal Kokta and Dominik Mueller, after trailing 4-2, stormed back and sealed the doubles point for BU with an 8-6 upset at No. 3 doubles over 18th-ranked Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean. In final doubles action, UCLA's Phillip Gruendler and Ben Kohlloeffel defeated 44th-ranked David Galic and Matt Brown, 8-6 at the top court.
The Bears took an early 2-0 lead when 66th-ranked Denes Lukacs quickly downed UCLA's Drean on court six, 6-2, 6-2. However, UCLA would even the contest at 2-2 with wins by Kohloeffel and Surapol at Nos. 1 and 3, respectively. Baylor gained the advantage again with a win at No. 5 by Mueller before Abid downed Poerschke to knot the score at 3-3.
At that point, Zgaga was down 4-2 in the third set to Dehaine. Zgaga went on to win four straight games to claim the win for the Bears. In the final game, with Dehaine serving and up 40-30, the Bruin hit a volley wide to knot the score at deuce then promptly double faulted to give Zgaga the advantage. Dehaine then netted a volley to allow Zgaga to win the match.
"The whole story of today's match was Baylor tennis. We set the tone and played with energy and enthusiasm. We expect that every time we play and we hadn't seen that this season until today," said head coach Matt Knoll.
"Matija is a senior and seniors win championships. He won today because of his desire and commitment," Knoll added.
Baylor, now 5-1 on the season, will host Stanford in the first annual HP Cup on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 12 p.m. (CT). The loss drops UCLA's season record to 5-1.
#8 Baylor 4, #3 UCLA 3
Baylor Tennis Center - Waco, Texas
Doubles
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1. Gruendler/Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. #44 David Galic/Brown (BU) 8-4
2. Poerschke/Zgaga (BU) def. Abid/Surapol (UCLA) 8-4
3. Kokta/Mueller (BU) def. #18 Dehaine/Drean (UCLA) 8-6
Singles
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 3, 5, 2, 4
1. #5 Benjamin Kohlloeffel (UCLA def. #17 Michal Kokta (BU) 7-5, 6-3
2. Haythem Abid (UCLA) def. #56 Lars Poerschke (BU) 7-6(6), 6-4
3. #27 Chris Surapol (UCLA) def. Matt Brown (BU) 7-5, 6-3
4. Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Mathieu Dehaine (UCLA) 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4
5. #53 Dominik Mueller (BU) def. Michael Look (UCLA) 6-4, 6-4
6. #66 Denes Lukacs (BU) def. Jeremy Drean (UCLA) 6-2, 6-2
