Men's Tennis Closes out Big 12 Play On Road
4/17/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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April 17, 2002
WACO, Texas - #7 Baylor at #17 Texas A&M - Sat., April 20, 6 p.m., College Station
Baylor, currently ranked No. 7 nationally and boasting a 21-1 overall record and 6-0 Big 12 mark, will travel to College Station to close out their regular season schedule with the Texas A&M Aggies on Sat., April 20 at 6 p.m. The Bears, at 6-0 in league play, currently sit atop the Big 12 in first place. Texas A&M and Texas each currently have one conference loss. Baylor beat Texas and Texas defeated the Aggies. A victory at Texas A&M would give the Bears sole possession of the conference crown. At worst, the Bears will finish tied for first.
The Aggies, currently ranked No. 17, are 17-4 on the season and 4-1 in league play. Two of the team's four losses have come against the University of Texas. They have also suffered losses to Rice and Pepperdine. The Aggies will host Oklahoma State on Thurs., April 18 before hosting the Bears. The Aggies are coming off a 2001 season where they captured the regular season Big 12 title and their third Big 12 Tournament title. Head coach Tim Cass is in his sixth season at Texas A&M. The Aggies have three singles players and a doubles team ranked nationally. Junior Ryan Newport is No. 41, senior Jarin Skube is No. 109 and freshman Lester Cook is No. 123. In doubles, Cook and Newport are ranked No. 20.
The Bears...
Matt Knoll's Bears have a 12-match winning streak going, just one victory shy of the school-record 13 straight wins set in 1999. Their lone loss of the season came at then-No. 9 Pepperdine, 5-2.
The Bears come into the Texas A&M Tennis Center, site of the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships (May 18-27), with three players ranked nationally in singles and five doubles teams among the nation's best. In addition, two Bears are undefeated in Big 12 action. At No. 1 singles freshman Benjamin Becker is 5-0 and Zoltan Papp is 6-0 at the No. 2 slot. In the national rankings for the Bears are freshman Benjamin Becker at No. 8, junior Zoltan Papp at No. 42 and sophomore Markus Hornung at No. 78. In doubles Hornung and Nathan McGregor rank highest for the Bears at No. 22, while Hornung and Reiner Neurohr are No. 35, Becker and Hornung are 36th, McGregor and Papp are No. 45 and Becker and Papp are 48th.
Second Conference Championship...
With their victory at the University of Oklahoma on Sunday, the Bears claimed their second Big 12 Championship in three years. Baylor also won the title in 2000 with a perfect 8-0 conference record.
20-Win Seasons...
At 21-1, the Bears have now posted the program's third 20-win season, all of which have come under head coach Matt Knoll. Knoll guided the Bears to their first-ever 20-win season in 1999 when they were 24-3 and finished second in the Big 12. In 2000 Baylor claimed the Big 12 Championship with a 23-6 record.
Bears on Fire...
Junior Zoltan Papp and sophomore Matias Marin are two of the Bears' hottest player so far. In dual match competition, Papp, a native of Budapest, Hungary, is 17-1 in singles. He is 1-0 at No. 1 singles, 9-1 at No. 2 and 7-0 at No. 3 and is 32-8 on the season. In addition, Papp is victorious in 23 of his last 25 matches. He had an 11 match winning streak snapped against Kentucky but currently has won six in a row.
Marin, a native of Rosario, Argentina, is 19-2 in dual match competition. He had a seven match win streak halted against #4 Kentucky but has won 13 of his last 14 and 19 of his last 21 matches. Marin is 30-10 in singles on the season.
After losing his first two dual matches, freshman Benjamin Becker has reeled off wins in 17 of his last 18 matches. His lone loss in that stretch came to Pepperdine's Al Garland, ranked No. 3 nationally. He recently defeated No. 5 Jesse Witten of Kentucky in straight sets, Duke's No. 14 Phillip King and No. 13 Jean Simon of Texas. The Orscholz, Germany native is 31-7 so far this season and has a 10-match winning streak going.
Baylor in the Rankings...
According to the latest Omni Hotels Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) team rankings released Wed., April 17, the Baylor men's tennis team moved up two spots, to No. 7 from No. 9 in the country.
In the ITA Top 100 individual rankings released on April 17, three Bears received rankings. Freshman Benjamin Becker dropped two spots to No. 8, junior Zoltan Papp moved from No. 45 to No. 42 and newcomer Markus Hornung is now No. 78. In doubles, five teams made the top 60 rankings. Hornung and Nathan McGregor dropped from No. 10 to No. 22, Hornung/Neurohr are No. 35, Becker/Hornung are No. 36, McGregor/Papp are No. 45 and Becker/Papp are No. 48.
Papp Named Big 12 Player of the Week...
Baylor junior No. 2 singles ace Zoltan Papp of Budapest, Hungary has been chosen as Big Conference Male Tennis Player of the Week for matches played from Apr. 8-14, the conference office announced Tuesday. Papp captured all six of his singles and doubles matches last week as the Bears clinched at least a tie for the Big 12 men's championship. He raised his overall record in singles to 32-8 by downing Texas' Rodrigo Echagaray, Oklahoma State's Fran Krepelka and Tobias Kreinlein (while moving up to No. 1 singles for that match) of Oklahoma. Papp also teamed with freshman sensation Benjamin Becker to down the nation's No. 47 doubles team in Texas' Clinton-Hoskins and two other rugged doubles' foes. With Papp's selection, Baylor claimed its third Player of the Week honor this season, Benjamin Becker earned the honor twice.
Head Coach Matt Knoll...
Head coach Matt Knoll is in his sixth season at the Bears' helm. He has a career record of 114-59 in seven seasons as a head coach and is 106-43 in his six years at Baylor. He has guided the Bears to two Big 12 championships (2000 & 2002) and was second last season. Under his guidance the Bears have made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
2002 Honors...
Big 12 Player of the Week - Benjamin Becker (3/19), Benjamin Becker (3/26), Zoltan Papp (4/16) Preseason All-Big 12 - Benjamin Becker
30 Match Winners...
The Bears have three players with 30 or more victories under their belts this season. Zoltan Papp has won 32 matches, Benjamin Becker 31 and Matias Marin has 30. In dual match competition, Marin leads the way with 19 victories. He is followed closely by Benjamin Becker and Zoltan Papp's 17.
