Men's Tennis Readies For ITA Kick-Off Weekend
1/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2010
Men's Tournament Central
WACO, Texas- The sixth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will look to build upon its 2-0 start to the spring season when it hosts No. 58 Iowa at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Baylor Tennis Center. Depending on the outcome of that match, Baylor will play the winner or loser of a matchup between No. 38 TCU and No. 66 Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The tandem of matches is part of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend that is happening in 16 sites around the country to determine the field for the 2010 ITA Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va. on Feb. 11-15. The team to win both of its matches over the weekend will advance to the 16 team championship.
CURRENT €ˆSTREAKS €ˆAND €ˆTRENDS: Overall, the Bears have won 17 of 18 matches dating back to last season. Senior Denes Lukacs has won 17 of his last 20 matches, while sophomore Maros Horny has triumphed in 16 of his last 18 dual matches.
SCOUTING IOWA: Saturday's match with the Bears will be the first of the season for the Hawkeyes. Iowa finished 12-9 overall and 4-6 in conference play in 2009. Iowa is coached by Steve Houghton, who is in his 29th year of leading the Hawkeyes. He has compiled a career record of 310-318 (.494), recording the most wins of any coach in Iowa men's tennis history.
PLAYERS €ˆTO €ˆWATCH: The Iowa roster features three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen. The Hawkeys lost last season's Big Ten singles champion Christian Bierich to graduation, but are led by senior Tommy McGeorge and senior Reinoud Haal. McGeorge won 24 matches last season with 12 of those wins coming at the No. 3 position. Haal went 17-12 last year, while earning nine victories at the No. 2 spot. The Hawkeyes will also come to Waco with a familiar face as former Bear Marc Bruche is on the Iowa team. Bruche was part of last year's Baylor squad going 7-5 in singles and 6-7 for the Bears in doubles. In the central region, the doubles duo of McGeorge and sophomore Will Vasos are ranked ninth. The pair finished 17-3 in dual play in 2009.
SERIES RECORD: Saturday's match will be the first-ever contest between Iowa and Baylor.
SCOUTING TCU: The possible Sunday showdown with former Southwest Conference foe TCU will mark the Horned Frogs' fourth match of the season with the 38th-ranked squad currently holding a 2-0 mark after taking down Texas-Pan American and UT-Arlington on Sunday, Jan. 24 by scores of 4-3 and 5-2, respectively. The Frogs will play their third match of the year on Saturday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Last season, TCU under fourth year head coach Dave Borelli advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 18th time in 19 years. This season's squad returns seven players from last year's team that won the Mountain West Conference regular season championship and finished the year No. 39 in the ITA rankings.
PLAYERS €ˆTO €ˆWATCH: The Horned Frogs' roster features four players who were regulars in last season's lineup including juniors Emanuel Brighiu, Zach Nichols and Christopher Price and sophomore Slah Mbarek. Brighiu and Mbarek each finished the spring among the ITA's individual singles and doubles ratings in addition to also earning All-MWC recognition in both categories. However, Brighiu missed both of Sunday's matches and Mbarek won both of his singles contests.
SERIES RECORD: The Bears trail 31-16 in the overall series to the Horned Frogs, but have beaten their former SWC rival eight straight times dating back to 2001. In Matt Knoll's time at Baylor the Bears hold a 11-5 mark against TCU. In the years before Knoll's arrival the Horned Frogs owned a 26-match win streak against Baylor from 1975-1996. Knoll actually lost his first three matches against TCU extending the streak to 29 matches from 1975-1998. The Bears dominated the series in its early years taking the first five matchups from 1970-74.
LAST €ˆTIME €ˆAGAINST TCU: The fourth-ranked Bears and the 56th-ranked Horned Frogs squared off on Sunday, March 4, 2007 at the Baylor Tennis Center with Baylor taking all three doubles matches and then claiming all six singles matches.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI: The Islanders enter the ITA Kick-Off weekend looking for their first win of the season after dropping two matches in New Mexico. On Friday, Jan. 22 Texas A&M-CC fell to New Mexico, 7-0, and then Sunday, Jan. 24, the Islanders were beaten by New Mexico State, 5-1. The Islanders are currently ranked 66th in the ITA listings under fifth year head coach Steve Moore. With Moore at the helm TAMUCC €ˆhas not lost a regular-season conference match and have made two straight NCAA €ˆtournament appearances.
PLAYERS €ˆTO €ˆWATCH: TAMU-CC returns senior Dmitry Novikov and junior James Langford. Novikov went 9-9 last season playing at the No. 2 and 3 spots, while Langford was 8-7 playing at the No. 6 position.
SERIES RECORD: Baylor holds a 7-6 series advantage over the Islanders, but have owned the series of late winning seven straight starting in 2002. The Islanders won the first six matches of the series in 1970-73.
LAST €ˆTIME €ˆAGAINST TEXAS €ˆA&M-CORPUS €ˆCHRISTI: The 10th-ranked Bears and 62nd-ranked Islanders met last season on Feb. 8, 2009, as the two dueled in Waco with Baylor earning a 7-0 win. Baylor swept the doubles matches and won all the singles matches in straight sets
BAYLOR IN ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND PLAY: Last season the Bears went 2-0 during the ITA Indoors Qualifer in Waco. Baylor advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships as the 10th-ranked Bears beat No. 67 Utah, 7-0 and No. 58 Georgia Tech, 6-1. Before last season the 16 teams recieved invitations to play in the National Team Indoor Championship and there was no qualifying.
LAST TIME OUT: On a day that featured winds gusting in the 20 mph range, the Bears blew past the 11th-ranked Florida Gators, 5-2, for their second win of the season. Last season the Gators dominated Baylor, 7-0, in Gainesville. The win gave the Bears their highest over a ranked opponent since the Bears knocked off 11th-ranked Texas, 6-1, in Big 12 play last season on April 2, 2009.
Quotes: Head Coach Matt Knoll
On hosting the ITA Kick-Off Weekend...
"We are excited to be at home. I think it is a good way to showcase our program and our facility. It is early in the year, so we are just trying to get in as many matches as possible and get our guys going. Hopefully we can continue to build on some of the momentum we got last weekend. To get two matches back to back, I think could be good for the development of our team."
On Iowa...
"I know Steve Houghton their coach really well and I have a lot of respect for Steve. We see that Marc Bruche who played for us last year is playing No. 1 for them, so obviously he is friends with all of our guys. It will be great to see Marc and see him compete."
On Texas A&M-Corpus Christi...
"I think A&M Corpus is going through a little bit of a transition year. They are red shirting a couple of there better players."
On TCU...
"Coach Borelli has that program going and they have a lot of young guys who are going to be good. So we are excited to get a chance to play against those guys."
On his team...
"I think this is one of those deals where we have to go out and worry about ourselves and try to get better in every match. If we do that is will be a great weekend."
