Baylor
ITA Southwest Regional
Men's Tennis Places One In Quarterfinals
10/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 25, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas- For the second straight year junior Jordan Rux will represent the Baylor men's tennis team in the quarterfinals of the Wilson/ITA South Central Region Championships after winning two matches Sunday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
"I thought it was a great day for us," men's tennis coach Matt Knoll said. "We got a lot of great matches in. We didn't always do as well as we would have liked, but I think these situations are going to help us going forward. We are fortunate to be in this part of the country where there are a lot of good teams and people were tough. I think we are going to learn a lot from today."
There are 13 schools in the state of Texas that have participants in the event. The singles and doubles champions from the Wilson/ITA South Central Region Championships will advance to the 2009 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships to be held on Nov. 5-8 at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
Rux (Kerrville, Texas) advanced to the singles quarterfinals by first dumping Texas' Jon Wiegand, 6-1, 7-6 and then taking down Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech 6-4, 7-5. The wins give Rux, the ITA preseason listings 27th-ranked player, a 10-1 fall record. In the quarterfinals Rux, who is the fourth seed in the tournament, will face the fifth-seeded Ed Corrie of Texas at 9 a.m. on Monday. In three career meetings against the Longhorn, Rux is a perfect 3-0.
"Jordan had a tough match with the Tech guy and he competed well and that was awesome," Knoll said. "There was a lot of adversity in the match and he came through it, which is fantastic."
Last season, Rux reached the tournament's quarterfinals only to fall to Texas Tech's Raony Carvalho 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
"I think his serve is way better and I think he has matured a lot," Knoll said of Rux's development over the past year. "He is better around the net than he was. He does a lot of things better. He comes here a little more of an established guy, a high seed where last year he was a new kid on the block. This year I think he will be more relaxed and that will help him."
Baylor's three other singles participants were all bounced from the tournament on Sunday. Senior Attila Bucko and sophomore Julian Bley were both eliminated in round of 32 play while sophomore Maros Horny lost in the consolation round of 16. The ninth-seeded Bucko fell to 17th-seed Marius Cirstea of TCU in a tightly contested three-set match, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. The loss drops the 85th-ranked Bucko to 6-5 on the season.
"Attila served for the match twice in his match against the TCU guy and did not get it," Knoll said. "The guy played well and that is something that will help him (Attila) later."
Bley also a ninth-seed lost to Artem Baradach of SMU 6-2, 6-4. Bley, ranked 113th, has a 4-5 mark now.
Horny was pushed into the consolation bracket after his first round loss yesterday, but rebounded to win his first match on Sunday 6-3, 6-0 over Brett Bernstein of UT-Pan American. However in his second match, Horny fell to Texas' Ben Chen 7-5, 6-4. The sophomore's record is now 4-4.
"Maros has been a little hurt, but he went out and gave it his best," Knoll said. "I thought he went out with a good attitude and fought as hard as he could."
In doubles play, Baylor's second-seeded duo of Rux and Horny bowed out of the tournament in the round of 16, losing to Alex Hilliard and Daniel Whitehead of Texas, 8-5. It was the first loss, for the tandem that is ranked 25th in the preseason rankings, dropping their record to 5-1.
Baylor's other duo of Bley and Bucko won their round of 16 match against Zach Nichols and Christopher of TCU, 8-5. The win propelled them into the doubles quarterfinals where they fell to the fourth-seeded team of Kellen Damico and Ed Corrie of Texas, 8-4. The 1-1 day moves the Baylor pair's record to 3-2.
Tournament draws and results can be viewed here for this week's matches.
Live video for selected matches can be viewed through a link at aggieathletics.com.
Sunday Results Singles
Round of 32
(4) Jordan Rux (BU) def. Jon Wiegand (UT) 6-1. 7-6
(17) Marius Cirstea (TCU) def. (9) Attila Bucko (BU) 3-6, 7-5, 7-5
Artem Baradach (SMU) def. (9) Julian Bley (BU) 6-2, 6-4
Round of 16
(4) Jordan Rux (BU) def. Gonzalo Escobar (TT) 6-4, 7-5
Consolation
Round of 32
Maros Horny (BU) def. Brett Bernstein (UT- Pan Am) 6-3, 6-0
Round of 16
Ben Chen (UT) def. Maros Horny (BU) 7-5, 6-4
Doubles
Round of 16
Hilliard/Whitehead (UT) def. (2) Horny/Rux (BU) 8-5
Bley/Bucko (BU) def. Nichols/Price (TCU) 8-5
Quarterfinals
(2) Corrie/Damico (UT) def. Bley/Bucko (BU) 8-4
Monday Schedule
Singles
Quarterfinals
(4) Jordan Rux vs. (5) Ed Corrie (UT) 9 a.m.
Players Mentioned
