May 10, 2007

WACO, Texas -

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2007 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship
Baylor Tennis Center - Waco, Texas
Friday, May 11 - Saturday, May 12

First Round
Friday, May 11
3 p.m. - #30 Rice (15-11) vs. #35 Texas A&M (14-11)
6 p.m. - #4 Baylor (24-3) vs. Oral Roberts (10-7)

Regional Championship
Saturday, May 12
5 p.m. - First round winners

TICKETS
ALL SESSION PASS
Reserved seating - $30.00
General Admission - Adults - $8, Students - $5

Daily
Tickets purchased on a daily basis (two women's matches on Friday, all three matches on Saturday and Sunday's men's match) are priced daily at $10 for reserved seats, $5 for adult general admission and $3 for student (under 18) general admission seating (this includes Baylor students with ID).

BAYLOR - The 24-3 Baylor Bears, ranked No. 4 nationally and the NCAA Championship's No. 3 seed, are participating in their 10th straight NCAA Tournament. Baylor won the 2004 NCAA title, were runners-up in 2005 and advanced to the semifinals in 2006, losing to top-seeded Georgia. In fact, the Bears have played in the NCAA Championships in 10 of head coach Matt Knoll's 11 seasons at Baylor. The Bears had never been selected to the tournament prior to Knoll's arrival.

The Bears are led by 11th-ranked Lars Poerschke, No. 19 Michal Kokta, No. 113 Dominique Mueller and No. 120 Matija Zgaga. Mueller, a freshman, and fellow freshman, Denes Lukacs, lead the team in singles wins, each with a 29-9 records record.

Zgaga, a senior, and sophomore David Galic are the Bears' highest ranked doubles duo at No. 25. They are 9-6 on the season, all coming in dual match play at the No. 1 spot. In addition, Galic and Poerschke are ranked No. 59 in doubles with a 5-1 mark while Kokta and Poerschke are No. 60 at 7-1.

ORAL ROBERTS...
The Golden Eagles, coached by Chris Milliron, captured their seventh Mid-Continent Conference men's tennis title, and first since 2005, with a 4-1 win over Western Illinois at the 2007 Mid-Con Championships. The men posted a 5-0 record in Mid-Con action and finished with an overall mark of 10-7, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

TEXAS A&M...
The No. 35-ranked Texas A&M men's team is making its 14th consecutive postseason berth in the NCAA Tennis Team Championship was announced Tuesday. The Aggies, coached by Steve Denton, are 14-11 on the season and finished Big 12 Conference play in seventh place with a 1-5 mark.

RICE...
The Rice Owls, ranked No. 30, enter the championships with a 15-11 season record. The Ron Smarr coached team is led by senior Ben Harknett, ranked No. 38 nationally.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS SINGLES AND DOUBLES SELECTIONS IN WACO..
Three players participating in the Waco NCAA Regional have been selected to participate in the NCAA Individual Championships. Baylor's Lars Poerschke was an automatic qualifier while fellow Bear Michal Kokta and Rice's Ben Harknett were at large selections. Texas A&M's Jerry Makowski is an alternate.

Only one doubles team from this regional make the list, Baylor's Matija Zgaga and David Galic were automatic qualifiers.

BAYLOR VERSUS TEAMS TRAVELING TO WACO..
Oral Roberts leads the series 3-0 but the two squads have not played since 1981.

Texas A&M leads the series 30-12-1, Baylor has won nine of the last 10.

Rice leads the series 25-4 but Baylor has won two straight (1998, 2004).

BAYLOR QUICK NOTES...
• Baylor currently ranked No. 4...it is the ninth time this season the Bears have been ranked No. 4 and the 20th time in school history.
• Baylor has swept courts four, five and six 17 times this season and are 16-1 in those matches. That lone loss was at 15th-ranked Florida on Feb. 4.
• The Bears are undefeated at home this season at 14-0.
• The Bears have lost only three matches this season (No. 15 Florida, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 1 Georgia).
• Baylor recently won its fifth-Big 12 Championship title.
• The Bears have won six straight regular season Big 12 Championships and seven of the last eight.
• BU has now posted six undefeated Big 12 Conference seasons. Baylor was 8-0 in 2000 then posted four straight 7-0 records (2002-2005) and finished with a 6-0 mark in 2007. Texas (1997, 1999) and Texas A&M (2001) are the only other schools to post perfect conference seasons.
• Baylor won the 2007 Big 12 regular season title with a 5-2 win over Oklahoma.
• Baylor has lost the doubles point nine times this season and are 6-3 when losing doubles.
• The Bears have not been ranked lower than ninth nationally over the past five seasons.
• Baylor is 169-17 (.909) over the past four seasons (27-2 in 2002; 28-2 in 2003; 32-2 in 2004; 33-1 in 2005 and 25-7 in 2006 and 24-3 so far this season).
• A Baylor player has earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors four of the eight weeks in 2007. Lars Poerschke has been honored twice (March 19, April 23) while Michal Kokta (March 5) and Matija Zgaga (April 9) received the distinction once each.
• Poerschke holds a 19-1 record in Big 12 regular season action. He was 7-0 in 2005 and repeated that mark in 2006. His lone loss came this season when Texas A&M's Connor Pollack posted a 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-7 victory at No. 2 singles.
• Senior Matija Zgaga ranks No. 3 in doubles (96) and No. 4 in singles (100) on BU's career list. With his victory over Texas' Milan Mihailovic he became just the fourth Bear to crack the century mark, joining Benjamin Becker (141), Benedikt Dorsch (119) and Matis Marin (104).
• Senior Michal Kokta ranks No. 5 in singles (99), No. 4 in singles winning percentage at .780 (99-28), No. 9 in doubles wins (76) and No. 1 in doubles winning percentage (.792, 76-20) on BU's career list.
•With 97 career singles wins, junior Lars Poerschke sits at No. 7 on Baylor's career list. In addition, he ranks No. 6 on the school's doubles career wins chart with 79 and is No. 3 in career doubles winning percentage at .782 (79-20).
• The doubles tandem of Michal Kokta and Lars Poerschke has posted 48 career wins which ranks tied for the top spot with Johann Jooste/David Hodge combo (1997-2000).

Kokta/Poerschke tandem:
2005 - 25-6
2006 - 16-2
2007 - 7-1

BAYLOR'S POSITION RECORDS THIS SEASON...
Doubles:
No. 1 - 15-12
No. 2 - 18-8
No. 3 - 16-10

Singles:
No. 1 - 19-6
No. 2 - 17-7
No. 3 - 14-9
No. 4 - 21-2
No. 5 - 22-4
No. 6 - 21-2

BAYLOR IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT...
The Bears are 25-8 in NCAA Tournament play. Prior to winning the 2004 NCAA national championship, their highest finishes were in 1999 and 2003 when they reached the quarterfinals. The Bears were 2005 runners-up after losing to UCLA 4-3 in the championship match and lost to top-seeded Georgia in the 2006 semifinals.

Baylor's' NCAA Tournament record breakdown:
First round - 7-2
Second round - 7-0
Round of 16 - 5-2
Quarterfinals - 3-2
Semifinals - 2-1
Finals - 1-1