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Jan. 24, 2003

WACO, Texas - #3 Baylor (1-0) vs. #25 Mississippi State (0-0)
Saturday, January 25 - 1 p.m. - A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre

The Bears opened up their spring semester by winning a tournament championship and defeating the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in their season opener. The men's tennis team will now match their talents against No. 25 Mississippi State. Mississippi State's original season opening match against Souther Mississippi was postponed due to extremely frigid weather conditions.

The last time the Bears and the Bulldogs met was on Baylor's turf last year. Baylor upset the then-No. 14 Bulldogs by a score of 4-3. Baylor has now taken two of the last three meetings from Mississippi State.

After losing only his second match out of 24 matches, No. 1 Benedikt Dorsch will try and bounce back this week against the Bulldogs. No. 66 Matias Marin will return to action this week after claiming the Rice Indoor Tournament Championship on Jan. 19, while No. 22 Zoltan Papp will step on the court for his first singles dual match this season.

MSU senior Ren?-Charles Combette was rated 76th in the latest ITA rankings and has compiled a 64-48 singles record. Not in preseason rankings, but definitely a factor on the national level is Bulldog Romain Ambert. The junior from Toulouse, France, was ranked No. 3 nationally in singles prior to the fall semester, is not ranked in the spring preseason poll.

The Bears take on the Bulldogs on Sat., Jan. 25 at Mississippi State's A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre at 1 p.m. Mississippi State will post live internet updates at www.mstateathletics.com