April 29, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -
The Baylor men's tennis team claimed its fifth Big 12 Championship title with a 4-1 victory over the University of Texas on Sunday at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City, Mo. Senior Michal Kokta was named the tournament's most outstanding player.
With the win, Baylor has now claimed both the Big 12 Conference regular season and championships titles five times.
The victory over Texas raised fourth-ranked Baylor's record to 24-3 while 11th-rated Texas fell to 18-8.
After losing the doubles point in three straight matches and five of the last six, and going on to the win the match, the Bears must have felt things might go their way when they tugged the doubles point away from the Longhorns. Texas' Miguel Reyes Varela and Milan Mihailovic downed Denes Lukacs and Dominik Mueller at No. 2 8-3 to give the Longhorns a glimmer of hope. However, Kokta and Lars Poerschke moved up from their normal No. 2 spot to play at No. 1. The tandem registered their 48th career victory with a win over Dimitar Kutorvsky and Josh Zavala, 8-6. The win moved the duo into a tie for No. 1 with Johann Jooste and David Hodge (1997-00) on Baylor's career wins by a doubles team list. Matt Brown and David Galic claimed the doubles point for the Bears with an 8-6 win on court three.
Senior Matija Zgaga gained Baylor's second point and recorded his 100th career win with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph. He moved past Zoltan Papp (1999-03) to claim the No. 4 spot on Baylor's career singles wins list. Lukacs made quick work of Jonah Kane-West on court six with a 6-4, 6-0 win. Texas gained its only point of the contest when Zavala downed Mueller 6-4, 6-2. Kokta gained the final point for the Bears and in the process registered his 99th career win with his 6-2, 7-5 victory over Varela.
"I thought our guys battled really hard today. Texas is a very good team. I am very proud of the Bears' performance," said head coach Matt Knoll.
#4 Baylor 4, #11 Texas 1
Plaza Tennis Center - Kansas City, Mo.
Semifinals Big 12 Championship
Doubles
1. Kokta/Poerschke (BU) vs. #30 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) 8-6
2. Reyes Varela/Mihailovic (UT def. Lukacs/Mueller (BU) 8-3
3. Brown/David Galic (BU) vs. Diaz Barriga/Bernhard Deussner (UT)
Singles
1. #13 Lars Poerschke (BU) vs. #73 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) DNF
2. #20 Michal Kokta (BU) def. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) 6-2, 7-5
3. Matt Brown (BU) vs. Luiz Diaz Barriga (UT) DNF
4. Matija Zgaga (BU) def. #110 Milan Mihailovic (UT) 6-3, 6-4
5. Josh Zavala (UT) def. #104 Dominik Mueller (BU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Denes Lukacs (BU) def. Jonah Kane-West (UT) 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish: D - 2, 1, 3; S - 4, 6, 5, 2
