Feb. 19, 2015

vs.		vs.
#55 Purdue vs. #5 Baylor Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 | 3 p.m. CT Waco, Texas | Hurd Tennis Center		#12 UCLA vs. #5 Baylor Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015 | 12 p.m. CT Waco, Texas | Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center
Live Scoring/Video | Live Blog		Live Scoring | Live Blog

WACO, Texas - After going 2-1 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, the fifth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will welcome two ranked teams, No. 55 Purdue and No. 12 UCLA, to the Hurd Tennis Center for matches on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

"We're an outdoor team and we built our whole program to play outside," head coach Matt Knoll said. "We're excited to get these courts done, and if it's some decent weather then hopefully we'll be out here this weekend. It'll be kind of a fresh start for us."

The Bears are 6-2 this season, including a 3-1 mark in home matches. BU will be playing its first match at home since Jan. 29.

BU is led by 10th-ranked Julian Lenz, who is 4-1 on the season. Baylor has two other ranked players on the singles side with Tony Lupieri and Max Tchoutakian listed at No. 27 and 67 respectively in the latest ITA rankings. The Bears also have two ranked doubles teams with Lupieri joining Felipe Rios to be ranked No. 19, while Lupieri and Zsiga are listed as the country's 40th-best duo.

The 55th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers come to town Friday at 3 p.m. with some familiar faces. Purdue is led by sixth-year head coach, and former Baylor player and coach, Pawel Gajdzik. During his time as a Baylor player, Gajdzik won the 1998 Big 12 singles and doubles titles and was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year while leading the team to its first NCAA tournament appearance. Gajdzik's assistant is former BU player and volunteer assistant coach, Michal Kokta.

"It's a neat reunion for us that we'll get to see those guys," Knoll said. "They're building a program up there and are getting started, so it will be great to see them."

Purdue is 2-5 on the season and 0-2 on the road in 2015. The Boilermakers have lost five straight matches coming into Friday's contest, including a 5-2 setback to DePaul in its last match out on Feb. 13.

Purdue has one ranked singles player in Ricky Medinilla at No. 122. Baylor is 4-0 all-time vs. the Boilermakers, having won one match against them in each of the last four years.

Sunday's match against No. 12 UCLA is slated to start at noon at the Hurd Tennis Center. The Bruins are 6-4 on the year, including a 0-1 mark in true road contests. UCLA lost two of three matches at the ITA Team Indoor Championships, but beat TCU in its final match in Chicago.

The Bruins have two ranked singles players, including No. 2 Mackenzie McDonald and No. 44 Dennis Mkrtchian. McDonald teams with Martin Redlicki to give UCLA the No. 6 ranked doubles tandem.

Baylor leads the all-time series against UCLA, 8-5, after upsetting the third-ranked Bruins, 4-2, in Los Angeles a season ago. However, UCLA won 6-1 in the last time the two teams played in Waco in 2013.

"We've been playing them for a long time now," Knoll said. "They have a great program, a great group of players, and a great coaching staff. We usually have unbelievable matches with them and that's what we expect from them. They have the No. 2 player in the country, who is as good as anybody and great guys all the way through. It's going to be a big challenge for us."

Live scoring, live video and a live blog for the matches against Purdue and UCLA will be provided on BaylorBears.com.

Following the two matches in three days, Baylor will host No. 4 Virginia on March 1. That match is scheduled to be played at 1 p.m.

For the latest news on the Baylor men's tennis team follow its official Twitter account: @BaylorMTennis.