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Men's Tennis Looks To Rebound Against TAMU-CC

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Men's Tennis 1/27/2011 12:00:00 AM


vs.
No. 9 Baylor (1-1) vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi (1-3)
Jan. 28, 2011 | 3 p.m. CST
| Waco, Texas | Baylor Tennis Center (1,600)
Live Scoring: BaylorBears.com
Gametracker Gametracker> | Game Notes Notes

WACO, Texas - The ninth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will welcome Texas A&M Corpus Christi (1-3) to the Baylor Tennis Center on Friday at 3 p.m. for the Bears' first match of the season at the facility.

Baylor (1-1) is coming off a loss at No. 9 Florida on Sunday, after getting a win in its first match of the season against Louisiana-Lafayette. The ULL €ˆcontest was scheduled to be at the Baylor Tennis Center, but windy conditions forced the match indoors to Ennis, Texas.

After two matches, Baylor's singles lineup still features two undefeated players in 22nd-ranked John Peers, who has played one match at No. 1 and one match at the No. 2 spot. The other undefeated Bear is Kike Grangeiro at the No. 5 position.

On the doubles side, Grangeiro teams with Julian Bley to make up Baylor's No. 3 team. The duo has started the season 2-0, but it is Peers and partner Roberto Maytin that are Baylor's lone ranked duo at No. 4 in the country.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bears suffered their first loss of the season as ninth-ranked Florida upended Baylor, 5-2, in Gainesville, Fla. on Jan. 23. BU lost the doubles point and then the first three singles matches, before John Peers at the No. 2 spot and Kike Grangeiro at the No. 5 position secured the Bears' only two points on the day. The loss tied the overall series between the Gators and Bears at five matches apiece. The last time Baylor won in Gainesville was March 2, 2005.

LOOKING AHEAD: After hosting Texas A&M €ˆCorpus Christi on Friday, the Bears will have a nine day layoff before their home match against sixth-ranked UCLA on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 12 p.m. BU has a 6-2 series lead over the Bruins with the Bears claiming the last two meeting by 4-3 margins.

HOME SWEET HOME: The friendly confines of the Baylor Tennis Center having been very kind to the Bears. Over the 10 years of its existence Baylor is 130-7 in matches played in Waco. Under Knoll the Bears are 180-22 when playing at home including matches played at the Streich Courts, the Baylor Tennis Center and various indoor courts in the area.

BAYLOR AFTER A LOSS: In recent history, good things have happened for the Bears after they experience a loss. In Knoll's 14 years at Baylor, the Bears have gone 61-22 following a losing effort. In that time, Baylor has never lost four matches in a row and only has dropped three in a row four times.

BAYLOR AGAINST UNRANKED OPPONENTS: Since Knoll arrived in 1997, the Bears are 79-2 against unranked competition. Currently, the Bears are on a 65-match win streak against unranked foes with their last loss coming on March 6, 2000 at San Diego State.

OWNING €ˆNON-CONFERENCE €ˆOPPOSITION: The Knoll era has brought success in both conference and non-conference play with Baylor sporting a 251-65 mark in non-league play over the last 14 years. Last season the Bears held a 20-4 record in matches outside conference play.

COLD €ˆWEATHER €ˆHOT €ˆRESULTS: During the month of January the Bears have produced a 27-6 record under Knoll. This season, Baylor is 1-1 in the month, while last season the Bears went 3-0. Before Sunday's loss to Florida the Bears had a six-match win streak in the month. Before Knoll arrived in Waco the Bears had only played 13 total matches in January, posting a 6-7 record.

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHIRSTI: The Islanders enter Friday's contest in the midst of a six-match road trip to start the season. The unranked Islanders have gone 1-3 in the first four matches on the road losing to New Mexico State, DePaul and New Mexico, while securing a win over Utah State. Steve Moore is in his sixth-season as the head coach of the Islanders and he has assembled a roster that features two seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. Last season, TAMU-CC finished 10-13, but won the regular season Southland Conference title. The Islanders were ineligible for any postseason play due to violations that occurred before any current player or coach was at the school.

SERIES HISTORY: Before last season the Bears and Islanders had played each other once every year since 2002 with Baylor going 8-0 in those matches. Overall, BU leads the all-time series 8-6 with TAMU-CC claiming the first six matches of the series from 1970-73. The last loss to Texas A&M €ˆCorpus Christi came on March 1, 1973. In Waco, Baylor holds an 8-1 series advantage, while the Islanders, 5-0 have been perfect against the Bears in Corpus Christi.

LAST €ˆTIME AGAINST TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI: The Bears and Islanders last met on Feb. 8, 2009, with Baylor taking a 7-0 shutout win at the Baylor Tennis Center. BU won all three doubles matches and then proceeded to claim every singles match in straight sets to help Matt Knoll stay unbeaten versus the Islanders.

Quotes - Head Coach Matt Knoll
On what his team did following the Florida loss:
"We took two days off. We got in super early on Monday, after flying out of Florida on Sunday night, so we took Monday and Tuesday off. We had some guys come out and work out on their own a little bit, but mostly we just kind of rejuvenated and refocused and got ready to have a fresh start on Friday."

On Friday's match:
"We are probably going to make some changes in the lineup and do some things like that, but mostly I think it is just a matter of challenging ourselves to improve and we are excited to get a chance to do that on Friday."

On getting the chance to play at home:
"We are excited about being here for a while. A lot of our schedule between now and Spring Break is here and I think that will be a positive for us. In any sport you have to be able to protect your home court and I know we are going to be excited about doing that."

On the possible changes in his lineup:
"I think we have to continue to explore ways to get the right guys out there. We have got some guys that were on the bench at Florida that maybe will help us, so we are going to try to do some different things."

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Players Mentioned

John Peers

John Peers

61' 5"
Senior
Roberto Maytin

Roberto Maytin

6' 0"
Freshman
Julian Bley

Julian Bley

6' 3"
Freshman
HS

Players Mentioned

John Peers

John Peers

61' 5"
Senior
Roberto Maytin

Roberto Maytin

6' 0"
Freshman
Julian Bley

Julian Bley

6' 3"
Freshman
HS