May 19, 2004
WACO, Texas -
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2004 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships
Michael D. Case Tennis Center - Tulsa, Okla.
Hosted by the University of Tulsa
Saturday, May 22 - Tuesday, May 25
Round of 16
Saturday, May 22
9 a.m. - No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 19 Rice; No. 6 Virginia vs. No. 22 Ohio State
12 p.m. - No. 2 USC vs. No. 28 Arkansas; No. 7 Florida vs. No. 10 Stanford
3 p.m. - No. 1 Illinois vs. No. 16 Harvard; No. 9 Georgia vs. No. 26 Vanderbilt
6 p.m. - No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 18 Texas A&M; No. 21 TCU vs. No. 31 Clemson
Teams listed by tournament seed, not national ranking.
Quarterfinals - Sunday, May 23 (if BU advanced, they will play at 2 p.m., vs. Ohio State/Virginia winner)
Semifinals - Monday, May 24 (if BU advances, they will play at 2 p.m.)
Finals - Tuesday, May 25 - 6 p.m.
The University of Tulsa will provide live scoring on their website:
University of Tulsa - NCAA Tennis Tournament Central
The Field...
Baylor - The 28-2 Baylor Bears, ranked No. 2 nationally and the tournament's No. 3 seed, are participating in their seventh straight NCAA Tournament. Baylor is participating in its third straight Round of 16 and fifth overall.
The Bears are led by second-ranked Benedikt Dorsch, No. 15 Benjamin Becker, No. 98 Matias Marin, No. 113 Matija Zgaga, and No. 119 Ivor Lovrak. Becker leads the team in singles wins with a 35-9 record while Dorsch follows with a 31-6 mark, Zgaga checks in at 30-6. Lovrak (28-6), Marin (21-6) and Reiner Neurohr (20-7) have all hit the 20-win mark this season.
Rice - Ranked No. 14 in latest ITA Poll, seeded No. 19 the the NCAA Championships...24-3 season record...The Owls won their first Western Athletic Conference crown with a 4-1 victory against SMU to lock up an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament...Rice is paced by the ITA's top ranked doubles tandem of Richard and William Barker, who have not lost a dual match since the 2001 NCAA Tournament...Robert Searle is Rice's top-ranked singles player at No. 35 with a 24-14 record, William Barker is No. 44 with a 28-10 mark...In doubles, the Barker duo is ranked No. 1, they are 20-0 in dual matches this season, all at No. 1...Rice moved into the Round of 16 with wins in Baton Rouge, La., over 47th-ranked South Alabama (4-1) and 13th-ranked LSU (4-0).
Possible Opponents...
Ohio State - Advanced to the Round of 16 after upsetting the 11th-seed and host North Carolina, 4-3...Season record 25-4...Currently ranked No. 17...Led by senior Jeremy Wurtzman, currently ranked No. 3 in singles...Wurtzman and Joey Atas are ranked No. 25 in doubles.
Virginia - Seeded sixth in the NCAA Championships...Season record 24-3...Advanced to the Round of 16 with a 4-0 win over American University and a 4-2 victory over Mississippi State...Currently ranked No. 10 in the ITA Rankings...Sophomore Doug Stewart is ranked No. 9 nationally...Nick Meythaler and Rylan Rizza are No. 21 in doubles.
Baylor vs. Rice...
The Rice Owls hold a 25-3 series lead over Baylor. The two teams have met just once since Baylor head coach Matt Knoll's arrival. The Bears posted a 5-2 win in Houston on Jan. 31, 1998.
Baylor Quick Notes...
* The Bears have not been ranked lower than seventh nationally over the past two seasons.
* Baylor has won 20 consecutive matches, last loss came on Feb. 28 at then-No. 13 Southern California (4-3).
* The Bears need just one more victory to break the season season win mark, they finished 2003 with a program-high 28 wins.
* Baylor has only lost the doubles point three times (Mississippi, Florida, USC) this season. In two of those matches, the Bears went on to lose the match, Mississippi (4-3) and USC (4-3).
* Benedikt Dorsch has never been ranked lower than No. 3 in singles.
* Baylor has been ranked No. 2 or No. 3 in 11 of the 13 ITA Polls this season.
* Junior Benjamin Becker and senior Matias Marin recently became Baylor's all-time career singles victory leaders, they each currently have 102 wins.
* Sophomore Ivor Lovrak has never lost a match at the No. 6 spot...he was 12-0 as a freshman and is 13-0 this season.
* Senior Reiner Neurohr recently became Baylor's all-time career doubles victory leader with 95.
* Baylor is 83-6 over the past three seasons (27-2 in 2002; 28-2 in 2003 and 28-2 so far in 2004).
* The Bears have won three straight regular season Big 12 Championships and four of the last five.
* The Bears have not lost a match to a Big 12 school since 2001 when Texas defeated Baylor in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament...that's 30 straight matches over Big 12 opponents.
* The men's tennis team has had the highest athletic department grade point average over the last three years, exceeding 3.0.
Baylor in the NCAA Tournament...
The Bears are 12-6 in NCAA Tournament play. Their highest finishes were in 1999 and 2003 when they reached the quarterfinals.
Baylor's' NCAA Tournament record breakdown:
First round - 5-2
Second round - 5-0
Round of 16 - 2-2
Quarterfinals - 0-2
Semifinals - 0-0
Finals - 0-0
1998
First round - Lost to #44 TCU, 4-2 (Texas host)
1999
First round - Defeated #67 Indiana State, 4-1 (Indiana State host)
Second round - Defeated #20 Harvard, 4-1
Round of 16 - Defeated #5 Stanford, 4-3
Quarterfinals - Lost to #6 Georgia, 4-3
2000 - 5th seed
First round - Defeated Marist College, 4-0 (Baylor host)
Second round - Defeated #24 Mississippi State, 4-2
Round of 16 - Lost to #11 TCU, 4-1
2001
First round - Lost to #40 Tulane, 4-2 (TCU host)
2002 - 6th seed
First round - Def. Hartford, 4-0 (Harvard host)
Second Round - Def. Harvard, 4-0
Round of 16 - Lost to #11 USC, 4-2
2003 - 2nd seed
First round - Def. UT-Arlington, 4-3 (Baylor host)
Second round - Def. #24 TCU, 4-3
Round of 16 - Def. #16 Alabama, 4-1
Quarterfinals - Lost to #6 Vanderbilt, 4-0
2004 - 3rd seed
First round - Def. Manhattan College, 4-3 (Baylor host)
Second Round - Def. #35 SMU, 4-0
Round of 16 - vs. # 14 Rice
Bears in NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament...
Baylor men's tennis players Benedikt Dorsch and Benjamin Becker have been selected to compete in the singles portion of the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships. Dorsch and Matija Zgaga will compete in the doubles bracket while Becker and Matias Marin are alternates. For the second straight year, Dorsch is the tournament's No. 2 seed, he falls in behind top-seeded Brian Wilson of defending national champion Illinois. Dorsch is ranked No. 2 in the latest ITA rankings and has amassed a season record of 31-6, is 21-5 in dual match action and has a nine-match win streak going. The junior was the NCAA Tournament's runner-up in singles last season when he fell to Illinois' Amer Delic in the finals. Becker, also a junior, qualified for the third straight year. He comes in this year as a 9-16 seed and is ranked No. 15 nationally with a 34-9 record overall and is 21-4 in dual match play. He lost in the round of 32 last season and in 2002.
In doubles, Dorsch and freshman Matija Zgaga were automatic qualifiers. The tandem is ranked No. 20 and has a record of 10-3. Becker and Marin are No. 3 on the alternate list, they are ranked No. 23 in the latest ITA rankings. The duo is 20-2 on the season,18-1 in dual matches and have won 14 consecutive contests.
Baylor on the Tennis Channel...
On April 7, the Baylor Bears defeated the Texas Longhorns 7-0 in Waco. The Tennis Channel will air a one hour broadcast of that match on six occasions:
May 26 - 5 p.m.
May 28 - 2 p.m.
May 29 - 10 a.m.
May 31 - 12 p.m.
June 2 - 4 p.m.
June 3 - 10 a.m.
