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Men's Tennis Set To Host First-Time Foe Purdue

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Men's Tennis 3/1/2011 12:00:00 AM
vs.
No. 11 Baylor (5-2) vs. Purdue (6-2)
March 2, 2011 | 3 p.m. CST
| Waco, Texas | Baylor Tennis Center (1,600)
Live Scoring/Blog: BaylorBears.com
Gametracker Gametracker | In-Match Blog |Game Notes Match Notes
The 11th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will look to continue its three-match win streak as the Bears welcome the Purdue Boilermakers to the Baylor Tennis Center on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Baylor (5-2) won its first 4-3 decision of the year on Sunday over No. 31 Mississippi State in the first match of a nine-match homestand for the Bears. Purdue (6-2) travels to Waco for the first time ever riding a five-match win streak. The Bears have been dominate at home this season winning four of five matches when they are the home team and holding a 4-1 mark at the Baylor Tennis Center.

Live scoring and a live blog for Wednesday's match will be available on BaylorBears.com.

BAYLOR €ˆVS. FIRST TIME OPPONENTS: In recent history Baylor has had great success against first-time opponents. During Knoll's tenure in Waco, the first-time the Bears €ˆplay an opponent they win 84 percent of the time (36-7). Overall, Baylor is 86-77-2 against first-time opponents. Last season, BU €ˆwas 1-1 against such opponents, while this season Purdue is one of only two scheduled first-time opponents for Baylor.

BAYLOR VS. BIG TEN CONFERENCE SCHOOLS: Although BU has never played the Boilermakers, they have played eight other members of the Big Ten Conference. Baylor is a combined 7-15 against Illinois (3-4), Michigan (0-1), Minnesota (1-1), Indiana (0-1), Iowa (1-0), Ohio State (1-4), Michigan State (0-3) and Penn State (1-1).

CURRENT SINGLES STREAKS & TRENDS: Senior John Peers has been unbeatable for the Bears at the top of the singles lineup in posting a perfect 7-0 mark in six matches at No. 1 and one match at No. 2. The rest of Baylor's singles lineup has been influx throughout the year. As part of the changes Roberto Maytin has played at three different positions, but has recorded a 6-1 mark with five straight wins. Dating back to last season, the sophomore has won nine of his last 11 dual matches. Kike Grangeiro has also played well for the Bears with a 5-1 record competing at the five and six spots.

CURRENT DOUBLES STREAKS & TRENDS: BU's No. 1 and No. 3 doubles tandems have been very consistent throughout the dual-match season. At the top of the lineup, the seventh-ranked Roberto Maytin and John Peers are 6-1, while at the bottom the 32nd-ranked Julian Bley and Kike Grangeiro have an unblemished 7-0 mark. Overall, Baylor has won five straight doubles points and has swept all three doubles matches five times this year.

IMPROVED €ˆDOUBLES €ˆPLAY: In its first seven matches this spring Baylor has won the doubles point six times and lost it only once. In those seven contests, BU's three doubles tandems have a combined 18-3 record. Last season, the Bears were 20-11 in doubles point decisions and had a combined 57-33 mark at all three positions.

OWNING €ˆNON-CONFERENCE €ˆOPPOSITION: The Knoll era has brought much success in non-conference play with Baylor enjoying a 255-66 mark in non-league play over the last 14+ years. Last season the Bears held a 20-4 record in such matches and so far this season they are 5-2.

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 133-8 in matches played in Waco. Under Knoll the Bears are 183-23 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 contest racking up a 72-match win streak. This season, Baylor is 4-1 in home matches with a 3-1 mark at the Baylor Tennis Center.

LAST TIME OUT: Baylor opened its nine-match homestand with a 4-3 win over No. 31 Mississippi State on Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center. The Bears jumped out to a fast start by winning all three doubles matches, but then the Bulldogs won three of the first four singles matches to build a 3-2 lead. Baylor responded by taking the last two singles matches to produce the win. Sophomore Roberto Maytin clinched the match for the Bears with a second set tiebreak win at the No. 5 spot.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Bears will host their first double-header of the season following the Purdue match as Lamar (10 a.m.) and UT €ˆPan American (2 p.m.) come to Waco on Thursday, March 10. BU is 7-4 all-time versus Lamar and 11-10 in the overall series with UT €ˆPan American. Last season, Baylor was 4-0 in doubleheader matches.

FAMILIAR €ˆFACE: Purdue head coach Pawel Gajdzik was a volunteer assistant at Baylor for six years, following a very successful playing career for the Bears. During Gajdzik's time as a coach, the Bears won the 2004 national championship and the 2005 national indoor team title. Baylor also won six consecutive Big 12 championships and five Big 12 tournament titles in that time, as well. Gajdzik, who competed for the Bears from 1997-2000, was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Big 12 champion at No. 3 singles in 1998. A two-time Big 12 singles honoree, Gajdzik teamed with Johann Jooste to win the 2000 Big 12 title at No. 2 doubles.

THE €ˆKNOLL €ˆCOACHING €ˆTREE: Beside Pawel Gajdzik at Purdue, Matt Knoll has had four other assistants during his time at Baylor move on to become head coaches or associate head coaches at other Division I programs: Kyle Spencer (Maryland), Sam Winterbotham (Tennessee), Ryan Sachire (Notre Dame) and Kevin Kowalick (former Oregon head coach).

SCOUTING PURDUE: The unranked Boilermakers opened the year just 1-2, but have since won five straight. Purdue has played two other ranked teams this season losing to No. 64 Harvard, 5-2, and then beating No. 73 Yale, 4-3. The win at Yale kicked off the string of hot play, but the last four wins for the Boilermakers have come at home in West Lafayette, Ind. In their last time out the Boilermakers played a doubleheader on Feb. 26 as they downed Eastern Kentucky and then the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. In his second year at Purdue, head coach Pawel Gajdzik has put together a roster that features one senior, two juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.

BOILERMAKERS TO WATCH: Sophomore Krisztian Krocsko and freshman Szymon Tatarczyk have played a majority of the matches for Purdue at the No. 1 and 2 positions. Krocsko is 4-4 on year, while Tatarczyk is 6-1.

SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday's match will be the first-ever meeting between Baylor and Purdue.

Quotes - Head Coach Matt Knoll

On seeing a former assistant succeed at a Division I program:
"I am proud of Pawel. He has worked at it. It is always neat to see guys that showed up here to play on our team the first year and then think back on how much they have grown, what a difference Baylor made in their life. Pawel has a real opportunity to do some great things at Purdue."

On Purdue's team:
"They have a super group of talented young guys that are going to grow together and really it reminds me of the model that we used when Pawel was here. We brought in a group together and those guys the first year weren't very good and then by the time they left they were an NCAA quarterfinal team. I think you will see Purdue's program take a similar path. This group will become their core and they will probably add a guy in the next year or two and they will become a national-level program in the next couple of years."

On what his team needs to do in this match:
"We have got some guys that really need to bounce back. We were thrilled to win the other day, but certainly had a few guys that didn't have great performances and I think it is a super opportunity for them to bounce back and go into Spring Break with a good taste in their mouth. I know those guys are going to be excited to get back on the court. I think for the other guys it is a chance to just continue to improve and build for what we have in the future."

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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