THE RUNDOWN
PLANTATION, Fla. - Three Baylor men's tennis players opened 2015 by competing in the USTA Men's $10K Plantation Community Tennis Open over the past four days at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center.

All three players, Tony Lupieri, Vince Schneider and Mate Zsiga, began their tournament run in the 128-man qualifying draw trying to earn one of eight spots in the 32-man main draw of the USTA Futures event. Meanwhile, a fourth BU player, Julian Lenz, will begin competition in the singles main draw on Wednesday as he plays Benjamin Balleret of Monaco.

Lupieri started the event with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Zachary Garner (USA), before taking care of Tommy Paul (USA), 7-6(1), ret., and Tim Kopinski (USA), 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4. Those three victories left Lupieri one win away from a qualifying spot, but on Monday the senior Bear came up short to 10th-seeded Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, 6-3, 6-4.

Schneider won his opening two matches, downing Erroll Lawrence (USA), 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1, before blowing past Marcus Yu (USA), 6-1, 6-4. The sophomore was eliminated from the event by Nick Chappell (USA), 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 on Sunday.

Playing in his first event in the United States after taking the fall semester off, Zsiga went 1-1. The senior opened with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Jimmi Parsons (USA), before falling to Kwiatkowski, 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday.

WHAT'S NEXT
After Lenz completes his run in the Florida event, select Baylor players will travel to the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Westlake, Calif., Jan. 16-19. Baylor opens its dual-match season on Jan. 21 by hosting Illinois at 2 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center

To stay current on all things Baylor Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter: @BaylorMTennis.