April 5, 2011
IRVING, Texas - For a second straight week conference officials tabbed senior John Peers as the Big 12 Tennis Player of the Week for his play in Baylor's shutout win over No. 39 Nebraska. The Melbourne, Australia, native was perfect in singles and doubles action for the Bears in the 7-0 victory in Lincoln, Neb. on Saturday.
In singles play against the Cornhuskers, Peers got the better of 69th-ranked Christopher Aumueller in three sets as he helped the Bears record their first conference shutout since April 25, 2009. The win for Peers was his third-straight over a ranked opponent and raised his dual-match record to 13-3. Overall, Peers is 25-8 in singles play and 9-8 versus ranked foes.
In doubles action against Nebraska, Peers and partner Roberto Maytin defeated the 41st-ranked duo of Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim, 8-6. The win helped Baylor to its 14th-straight doubles point win as BU took all three doubles matches for the ninth time this season. Peers and Maytin are 12-2 in dual match play and 25-5 overall. Against ranked opponents the pair is 10-4.
Peers was also named the player of the week last week for his contribution to Baylor's wins over No. 8 Stanford and No. 17 Texas Tech. Besides, Peers' two consecutive awards, Baylor junior Julian Bley won the award for his play from March 14-20.
With the three consecutive honorees, Baylor and Texas A&M are the only schools since 1998 to have been awarded the men's weekly honor for three straight weeks. Baylor players also won the award for three straight weeks in 2004 as Benjamin Becker (April 7), Benedikt Dorsch (April 13) and Matias Marin (April 20) were honored by the league.
Individually, Peers is the first player to win the award in back-to-back weeks at Baylor ever. He becomes the first player at Baylor to win the award twice in a season since Lars Poerschke accomplished the feat in 2007.
As a team Baylor has won five straight matches and 11 of its last 12 with an 8-1 record against ranked teams during that stretch. With the win versus Nebraska, Baylor now owns a 22-0 record against the Cornhuskers in the Big 12 era.
The 13th-ranked Bears will be back in action on Wednesday as they travel to face No. 8 Texas in Austin. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
