Feb. 11, 2009

Tournament Central

Waco, Texas -

After winning three straight home matches, the Bears will face their third road trip of the season when they travel to Chicago Friday for the 2009 ITA National Indoor Championships.

"It is great to be in the environment with all of the best teams," head coach Matt Knoll said. "The atmosphere particularly for the young guys who haven't been around all of the other good teams, it gives them a great sense of where they stand and a comfort level being in that environment."

The Bears, 4-1 on the season and No. 10 in the latest ITA rankings, will be seeded 10th in this weekend's prestigious 16-team, four-day tournament hosted by the University of Illinois. Match play will begin Friday, Feb. 13 and continue through Monday, Feb. 16 at the Midtown Tennis Club in Chicago.

"We know that every match is going to be tough," Knoll said. "We are going to be ready to really lay it on the line for four days in a row."

This weekend will mark the Bears' eighth appearance and seventh straight at the National Team Indoor Championships. Baylor won the championship in 2005 and has a 15-7 record at the Team Indoors. Last season, the Bears lost their first two matches to No. 21 Oklahoma State and No. 12 North Carolina, before defeating 38th-ranked Penn State on the last day of the tournament.

"We don't have an indoor facility so we don't get to prepare as much as we would like for this," Knoll said. "We get two practices inside and hopefully we can adjust. It is not a new sport it is just different. I am confident we will be fine."

Baylor is joined by No. 1 seed Ohio State, No. 2 seed Texas, No. 3 seed Georgia, No. 4 seed UCLA, No. 5 seed and defending champion Virginia, No. 6 seed USC, No. 7 seed Florida, No. 8 seed Tennessee, No. 9 seed Mississippi, No. 11 seed Stanford, No. 12 seed Tulsa, No. 13 seed Illinois, No. 14 seed Florida State, No. 15 seed Michigan and No. 16 seed Pepperdine.

"I think the biggest challenge for us will be getting our intensity level where it needs to be," Knoll said. "You don't won't to be too over juiced but playing a top 10 team the intensity level will be a little higher."

Baylor's first round of action will be Friday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. (CT) when the Bears take on 7th seeded and 8th ranked Tennessee. Leading the Volunteers against the Bears will be former Baylor assistant Sam Winterbotham, who spent three years in Waco. The Bears are 1-3 versus Tennessee all-time, winning last season's matchup in the NCAA Championships round of 16, 4-1. Tennessee is 5-0 on the season with wins over East Tennessee State, Tennessee Wesleyan, No. 48 Harvard, No. 43 Louisville and No. 13 Illinois.

"I certainly don't relish the opportunity to play my best friend in coaching, there are a lot of other teams I would rather play," Knoll said. "It is not perfect, but we are both trying to compete for national championships and we are going to have to play each other sometime. I don't think it is going to be a factor for the guys, so that is what matters."

In second round action, the Bears will face either No. 1 Ohio State or 16th-seed Pepperdine on Saturday at 3 p.m. Baylor trails in the all-time series with Ohio State (1-2), but is 6-4 against Pepperdine.

"We have always done a good job, focusing one match at a time," Knoll said. "We are going to have our hands full with Tennessee, we are going to have to keep our focus on that one and see what comes next."

While including the top 13 teams in the country, the tournament will also include 11 of the top 25 individuals in the ITA national singles ranking, including Baylor's No. 13 Jordan Rux and No. 21 Denes Lukacs. In addition to the Baylor pair, the tournament features No. 1 Bryan Koniecko, Ohio State; No. 3 Steven Moneke, Ohio State; No. 6 Justin Kronauge, Ohio State; No. 10 Arnau Brugues, Tulsa; No. 11 Michael Shabaz, Virginia; No. 16 Bradley Klahn, Stanford; No. 18 Nate Schnugg, Georgia; No. 23 Roy Kalmanovich, Illinois and No. 24 Sanam Singh, Virginia.

During the tournament, Baylor head coach Matt Knoll will be looking for win number 300 of his 14-year coaching career. Knoll now sits at 298 career wins, after the Bears 7-0 win over No. 62 Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Sunday.

Baylor's home match versus Virginia Commonwealth on March 27 has been moved up to 3 p.m. from the originally scheduled 6 p.m. start time.

Live stats for the matches at the ITA National Indoor Competition can be found on tournament's Web site.