May 24, 2011
Baylor's John Peers will begin singles play in the NCAA Tennis Championships on Wednesday, May 25 at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., with Stanford University serving as the host school. Peers and Roberto Maytin will begin doubles action on Thursday.
Peers, who is currently ranked No. 19 in the nation, is 29-12 overall and 17-7 in dual-match play, is competing in the singles competition for second time, he dropped a first-round match last season while playing for Middle Tennessee.
Peers will play 85th-ranked Arthur Surreaux of New Mexico State at 2:30 p.m. (Pacific)/4:30 p.m. (Central). The Peers/Surreaux winner will take on the winner of the Alex Domijan/Sebastian Fanselow match. Virginia's Domijian is ranked No. 2 nationally and is the tournament's No. 2 seed while Pepperdine's Fanselow is ranked No. 28.
In past years, Baylor players have experienced tremendous success in the singles portion of the championships with Benjamin Becker winning the singles title in 2004 and Benedikt Dorsch claiming the top spot in 2005. In Matt Knoll's 15-year tenure as head coach, the Bears have had a singles participant in the NCAA Championships every year with the exception of 1997 and 2001.
For the doubles bracket, Peers and Maytin are seeded in the No. 5-8 range. It marks the first time that a Baylor doubles team has been seeded since Dorsch and Matija Zgaga were seeded No. 3 in 2005. As a top-eight national seed, Maytin and Peers automatically earn All-American status.
Currently as a team, the fifth-ranked Peers and Maytin are 34-5 overall and 21-2 in dual-match play with all of those matches coming at the top of the Baylor doubles lineup. The tandem enters the doubles portion of the tournament riding an 11-match win streak.
Peers and Maytin begin doubles action on Thursday when they meet 60th-ranked Sebastien Vidal and Jamie Whiteford on William and Mary.
This will be the second straight year that Maytin has represented Baylor during the doubles portion of the championship. Last season, the sophomore teamed with Denes Lukacs to earn an invite into the field of 32, but the duo fell in first round action to the 19th-ranked Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy of North Carolina (6-3, 6-4). Peers also has experience in the doubles championships, participating in the 2009 tournament during his time at Middle Tennessee.
