May 24, 2004
TULSA, Okla. - Baylor's men's tennis team has a chance to not only put their name in the NCAA record book but in the Baylor record book as well. By blanking Southern California 4-0 in the NCAA Semifinal match on Monday afternoon, Baylor advanced to the title match against UCLA, a 4-2 winner over top-seeded and defending national champion Illinois. A win in tomorrow's NCAA National Championship match would be the first-ever team title for Baylor athletics.
With the victory, Baylor moves into the national finals for the first time in school history and extended its season record to a program-best 31-2. In addition, the Bears extended their school-record win streak to 23 matches and avenged an earlier 4-3 loss to USC. The Bears ended second-seeded USC's season at 23-4. The Bears will now face fourth-seeded UCLA on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In doubles, after trading the first four games, Reiner Neurohr and Ivor Lovrak playing at No. 3 to reeled off five straight game to post an 8-2 win and give Baylor its first doubles win of the day. At No. 1, Benedikt Dorsch and Matija Zgaga dueled back and forth with Adriano Biasella and Johan Berg until the Bears broke Biasella's serve to go up 7-5. Dorsch then held serve to claim the doubles point for the Bears. The doubles point win avenged an earlier match with the Trojans where USC swept all three doubles and went on to win the match versus the Bears.
For the second day in a row, junior Benedikt Dorsch was first off the court for the Bears with a swift 6-1, 6-3 win over 19th-ranked Adriano Biasella. Dorsch, ranked No. 2 nationally, raised his season record to 33-6 and has now won 12 straight matches. Junior Benjamin Becker claimed Baylor's third point of the day with a win at No. 2. He posted a win in the first set and then fell behind in the second set 4-0 but rebounded to win seven of the next eight games to claim the match 6-4. 7-5. Freshman Matija Zgaga clinched the match for the Bears with a three-set win at No. 4. Zgaga won the first set 6-3, fell in the second set 3-6 and claimed the third set 6-3. Senior Matias Marin, playing at No. 3, had a chance to close out his match as well. He won the first set 7-5 and was up 5-3 in the second when 82nd-ranked Johan Berg broke Marin's serve. Berg went on to win the set in a tiebreaker, forcing a third set. At No. 6, Ivor Lovrak won his first set as well (7-6) and was tied at 5-5 when play was suspended and senior Reiner Neurohr had split his first two sets and had just began the third when play was halted.
"I am proud of our team. I though we fought hard on every court. We know that USC has a terrific program and a great team this year. We knew we were going to have our hands full today. We just feel fortunate we were able to get through it," said head coach Matt Knoll.
No. 2 Baylor 4, No. 10 Southern California 0
Singles
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
1. #2 Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. #19 Adriano Biasella (USC) 6-1, 6-3
2. #15 Benjamin Becker (BU) def. Jamil Al-Agba (USC) 6-4, 7-5
3. #98 Matias Marin (BU) vs. #82 Johan Berg (USC) DNF
4. #113 Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Daniel Langre (USC) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
5. Reiner Neurohr (BU) vs. #105 Ruben Torres (USC) DNF
6. #119 Ivor Lovrak (BU) vs. Drew Hoskins (USC) DNF
Doubles
Order of finish: 3, 1
1. #20 Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) def. #44 Biasella/Berg (USC) 8-5
2. #24 Becker/Marin (BU) vs. Hoskins/Langre (USC) DNF
3. Lovrak/Neurohr (BU) def. Parker Collins/Torres (USC) 8-2
