vs.

No. 9 Baylor (2-2) vs. No. 52 TCU (2-1) Feb. 12, 2011 | 2 p.m. CST| Waco, Texas | Baylor Tennis Center (1,600) Live Scoring/Blog: BaylorBears.com

Gametracker | In-Match Blog | Notes

The ninth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will look to rebound from its second loss of the season when the Bears welcome No. 52 TCU €ˆto the Baylor Tennis Center on Saturday for a 2 p.m. match.

Baylor (2-2) is coming off a 4-3 loss versus sixth-ranked UCLA on Sunday. A win against TCU (2-1) would be the Bears' first win of the season against a ranked opponent and continue a string of 10 straight victories against the Horned Frogs.

The match will be the 50th meeting between the two programs that have played each other at least once every year since 1970 except in 2008 and 2009 with TCU €ˆleading the overall series 31-18.

LAST TIME OUT: Baylor lost its second match of the season on Feb. 6 as the sixth-ranked UCLA €ˆBruins got past the Bears 4-3 at the Baylor Tennis Center. Baylor won the doubles point by capturing a win in all three matches, but then the Bears lost five of six first sets in the singles matches. John Peers at the No. 1 spot and Roberto Maytin at the No. 3 position both came back to win their singles contest, but it was not enough as the Bruins won three of the remaining four matches in a third set.

LOOKING AHEAD: After entertaining TCU on Saturday, Baylor will head out on the road for the second time this season as the Bears travel to Dallas to face SMU on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 12 p.m. The Bears are 17-28 all-time versus the Mustangs, but they have won the last 14 matches including a 6-1 victory over SMU last season in Waco.

SCOUTING TCU: Saturday's match for the No. 52 Horned Frogs will be their first road contest of the season as they will come to Waco following a match with No. 31 Alabama on Friday afternoon. TCU opened the season by recording a 6-1 win against both UT €ˆArlington and UT €ˆPan American, but then the Horned Frogs fell 4-3 against Texas A&M €ˆCorpus Christi on Jan. 29. Former TCU great David Roditi returned to Fort Worth this fall to take over the TCU €ˆmen's program and has assembled a roster that features four senior, three juniors, three sophomores and no freshmen.

SERIES HISTORY: The Bears trail 31-18 in the overall series to the Horned Frogs, but Baylor has beaten their former SWC rival 10 straight times dating back to 2001. In Matt Knoll's time at Baylor the Bears hold a 13-5 mark against TCU. In the years before Knoll's arrival the Horned Frogs owned a 26-match win streak against Baylor from 1975-1996. Knoll actually lost his first three matches against TCU extending the streak to 29 matches from 1975-1998. The Bears dominated the series in its early years taking the first five matchups from 1970-74. Since Knoll arrived in Waco, Baylor is 9-1 at home, 4-2 on the road and 0-2 in neutral site meetings against TCU.

LAST €ˆTIME AGAINST TCU: The Bears and Horned Frogs met twice last season with Baylor grabbing wins in both matches. The first meeting of the season was the final of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Waco on Feb. 1 with the Bears shutting out TCU, 7-0. Baylor won the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches and swept five of the six singles matches in straight sets. In the second contest between the two teams on March 17, Baylor lost the doubles point, but again won five of the six singles contests in straight sets to post a 6-1 win over No. 42 TCU at the Baylor Tennis Center.

BAYLOR VS. CURRENT MWC MEMBERS: Including its 6-0 record versus TCU since the Horned Frogs joined the Mountain West Conference in 2005, Baylor is a combined 9-1 against current schools in the MWC since the conference was formed in 1998.

COMMON €ˆOPPONENT: €ˆIn the young season, the Bears and the Horned Frogs have both played Texas A&M Corpus Christi with Baylor taking a 7-0 win over the Islanders on Jan. 28 and TCU falling 4-3 to TAMU-CC a day later. Baylor and TCU €ˆboth swept all three doubles matches from the Islanders, but while the Bears took all of the singles matches (five in straight sets), the Horned Frogs only got wins at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots.

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 131-8 in matches played in Waco. Under Knoll the Bears are 181-23 when playing at home including matches played at the Streich Courts, the Baylor Tennis Center and various indoor courts in the area. From Jan. 26, 2002 until Jan. 29, 2006, the Bears did not lose at home racking up a 72-match win streak.

OWNING €ˆNON-CONFERENCE €ˆOPPOSITION: The Knoll era has brought much success in non-conference play with Baylor sporting a 252-66 mark in non-league play over the last 14 years. Last season the Bears held a 20-4 record in matches outside conference play and so far this season they are 2-2.

WINNING AGAINST THE BEST: During Knoll's time in Waco, Baylor has played 330 ranked opponents with the Bears going 247-83 in those matches. This season the Bears have played or are currently scheduled to play 15 ranked teams and seven of the other nine schools inside the top 10. Last season, the Bears were 16-7 against teams in the ITA's rankings of the top 75 college teams. Baylor's best year against ranked foes came in 2005 when they went 29-1 against the nation's elite with the only loss coming to No. 6 in the NCAA €ˆTournament finals.

Quotes - Head Coach Matt Knoll

On TCU:
"Baylor and TCU have played a lot over the years and TCU has had the better of it over the long haul for sure. We are excited to play them. They are a very talented team. We have a lot of respect for the guys they have. It is fun to play these teams that are old Southwest Conference rivals."

On his team's ability to bounce back:
"The process for us is we just have to get better. It was heartbreaking to lose that match to UCLA with the match point and that is tough to stomach, but I know it has motivated us to work harder. I think we are excited to get and play this weekend and I think we will play better and I think we will continue to play better and better over the course of the season."

On what he learned about his team from the UCLA match:
"The thing that is great about our situation is we have a couple other guys that can play. If guys don't do what we need them to do and don't develop then they are just not going to get an opportunity. I think that is a good pressure to have. You know that you are going to be held accountable. I think everybody learned a lot from this last match and I think some of it wasn't positive, but I think given an opportunity to be a similar situation they are really going to come through."

On his doubles teams:
"I was incredibly impressed by our doubles against UCLA. I thought all three teams really played at a good level and a lot of that is just a reflection that we have some guys with good doubles skills. It is going to be a lot of fun to see how they grow over the course of the year. That hopefully will be a big strength of ours down the stretch."