April 5, 2009
Final Stats
Waco, TX- The seventh-ranked Baylor men's tennis team built on its recent success and won back-to-back road matches for the first time this season, by defeating the 49th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, 4-3, Saturday afternoon in Lincoln.
"It was not an easy match," Baylor head coach Matt Knoll said. "We are really glad to get the win. Nebraska came out and pushed us and I am glad we met the challenge and got to the finish line."
The Bears now own an 18-5 dual match record, and improved to 4-4 away from the Baylor Tennis Center this season. Baylor has also won 12 of its last 14 matches overall and is currently on a seven-match win streak. The Bears also improved to 3-0 in Big 12 conference play with the win and 6-1 victories over No. 11 Texas on Thursday and No. 48 Oklahoma on March 4.
The win also gave the Bears just their second victory on Indoor courts this season, after losing to No. 3 Ohio State on March 1 and winning only one of three matches at the ITA National Indoor Championship. It was Baylor's sixth 4-3 win this season.
The Bears are 79-13 in 12-plus seasons of Big 12 play and over the past seven-plus seasons, Baylor has posted a 48-2 league record.
The Bears grabbed early control of the match by taking the doubles point. Baylor won at No. 1 when 74th-ranked David Galic and Jordan Rux took down the 49th-ranked team of David Bendheim and Calin Paar, 8-2. Then the pair of Maros Horny and Denes Lukacs fell to Christopher Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim 8-3. At No. 3 doubles Dominik Mueller and Julian Bley pulled out a 9-7 victory give the point to the Bears.
"Dominik and Julian did a great job of battling to get through that match and give us the point," Knoll said.
The competiveness of the doubles spilled over into the singles' matches as Baylor grabbed another point as Attila Bucko beat Renato Melo 6-3, 6-0. From there Baylor won just two of the next five of matches, but that was just enough to give Baylor the victory. ITA All-American and seventh-ranked Lukacs dispatched of Bendheim in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The junior is 16-3 and riding a 10 match win streak with all of his matches coming at the No. 1 singles slot. Mueller got the other Baylor victory at the No. 3 spot as he beat Hendrik Stahmer 6-1, 7-5. The Cornhuskers won matches at No. 2 as Aumueller took down No. 44 Rux in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, at No. 5 as Lindheim dropped David Galic 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, and at No. 6 as Francios Van Impe defeated Maros Horny 3-6, 6-3, 12-10.
The Huskers fell to 16-4 this season and 0-1 in Big 12 play. The Huskers now have lost two in a row after winning 13 straight contests. It was the first loss for the Huskers at the Nebraska Tennis Center after starting the season 6-0.
The Bears hold an 18-3 record over the Cornhuskers all-time and have won 18 straight meetings against Nebraska. Matt Knoll teams have never lost to Nebraska going 16-0.
The Bears will continue conference play when they return home to host Texas A&M on April 8. Then Baylor will travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech on April 14, before hosting Oklahoma State to close out Big 12 play on April 19.
