April 1, 2007
WACO, Texas - The No. 4 Baylor men's tennis team prevailed over No. 14 Pepperdine 4-3, Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center. The win marks the eighth-straight for the Bears and improves their record to 15-2 overall on the season.
Pepperdine took an early lead with two wins over Baylor in doubles. Lars Poerschke and Denes Lukacs fell to Andre Begemann and Mahmoud Kamel of Pepperdine 8-5. Matija Zgaga and David Galic, ranked at the No. 43 spot, were the only pair to win for the Bears defeating No. 29 Richard Johnson and Omar Altmann 8-6. Pepperdine's duo of Bassam Beidas and James Lemke downed previously undefeated Michal Kokta and Dominik Mueller 8-6 to clench the doubles point for the Waves.
In singles, No. 91 Mueller gained Baylor its first point defeating Omar Altmann in a three set match 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Poerschke, ranked No. 19, defeated No. 23 Andre Begemann in a second set tiebreaker 6-3, 7-6(8) while Lemke of Pepperdine downed Matt Brown 6-3, 6-2. Lukacs picked up the third point for the Bears with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win over Mahmoud Kamel. Pepperdine's Bassam Beidas evened the contest with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 downing of No. 14 Kokta. Zgaga, ranked at the No. 108 spot, clenched the match for the Bears defeating Richard Johnson in a three set match 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
"We were lucky to win. I was proud of the way we bounded back from poor performance in doubles. I thought Pepperdine played well," said head coach Matt Knoll
The Bears are back in action Tuesday, April 3 when they will host conference rival Texas A&M at 6 p.m. at the Baylor Tennis Center. Fans are encouraged to "Crowd the Courts" in efforts to help set an NCAA regular season attendance record.
#4 Baylor 4, #14 Pepperdine 3
Singles
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 3, 6, 2, 4*
1. #18 Lars Poerschke (BU) def. #23 Andre Begemann (PEP) 6-3, 7-6(8)
2. Bassam Beidas (PEP) def. #14 Michal Kokta (BU) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
3. James Lemke (PEP) def. Matt Brown (BU) 6-3, 6-2
4. #108 Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Richard Johnson (PEP) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
5. #91 Dominik Mueller (BU) def. Omar Altmann (PEP) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
6. Denes Lukacs (BU) def. Mahmoud Kamel (PEP) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Doubles
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
1. #43 Zgaga/Galic (BU) def. #29 Johnson/Altmann (PEP) 8-6
2. Begemann/Kamel (PEP) def. Poerschke/Lukacs (BU) 8-5
3. Beidas/Lemke (PEP) def. Kokta/Mueller (BU) 8-6
