May 17, 2007
ATHENS, Ga. - With its 4-0 blanking of Alabama in the round of 16 in the NCAA Championships, Baylor men's tennis advanced the tournament quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive year and sixth time in program history.
The victory raises Baylor's season record to 27-3-3 and extended its win streak to nine matches while Alabama ends it season with a 22-8 record. The Bears will play North Carolina State, who pulled off a 4-3 upset over 11th-seeded Texas, at 8 a.m. (CDT) at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.
Baylor improves to 27-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is now 6-2 in round of 16 matches.
The Bears claimed the doubles point when the tandems of Lars Poerschke/Michal Kokta and Matija Zgaga/Denes Lukacs posted victories over their Crimson Tide opponents at courts one and two, respectively. Poerschke and Kokta, ranked No. 60, clinched the doubles point and posted their six straight victory with an 8-6 upset over Dan Buikema and Mathieu Thibaudeau. Despite dropping behind 1-4 to begin the match, Zgaga and Lukacs reeled off wins in seven straight games and were the first off the court for the Bears with an 8-5 triumph over Joseph Jung and Saketh Myneni.
Baylor won first sets on all six courts to begin singles play but dropped three second-set matches before going on to secure the win. Freshman Dominik Mueller gained Baylor its second point with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court five. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Poerschke blanked Mertz in the second set to gain Baylor its second point. Despite splitting the first two sets, Zgaga clinched the match for the Bears with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over Thibaudeau.
"I thought we were a little nervous to start. That's always tough when you get into the first day of a tournament, getting used to the venue and everything that's going on. I thought we worked through it pretty good. I thought we got off to a good start in singles but let our foot off the accelerator a little bit after that. You have to give credit to Alabama. They fought back, were very scrappy and made it tough on us. That should help us in the future," said head coach Matt Knoll.
Live scoring and results will be posted on the internet on both the University of Georgia Athletic Association's official web site www.georgiadogs.com and at ncaasports.com.
No. 4 Baylor 4, No. 17 Alabama 0
Singles - Order of Finish: 5, 1, 4
1. No. 11 Lars Poerschke (BU) def. No. 71 Billy Mertz (ALA) - 7-6(3), 6-0
2. No. 19 Michal Kokta (BU) vs. #88 Joseph Jung (ALA) - 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 susp.
3. Matt Brown (BU) vs. Sammy Stray (ALA) - 6-3, 1-6, 2-1 susp.
4. No.120 Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Mathieu Thibaudeau (ALA) - 6-4, 3-6, 6-2)
5. No. 113 Dominik Mueller (BU) def. Javier Bes (ALA) - 6-4, 6-3
6. Denes Lukacs (BU) vs. Saketh Myneni (ALA) - 7-6(2), 4-3 susp.
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 1
1. No. 60 Poerschke/Kokta (BU) def. No. 23 Dan Buikema/Thibaudeau (ALA) - 8-6
2. Lukacs/Zgaga (BU) def. Jung/Myneni (ALA) - 8-5
3. Brown/David Galic (BU) vs. Mertz/Bes (UT) - 6-6 susp.
