Feb. 22, 2010

WACO, Texas- The 12th-ranked men's tennis team (8-2) will host its highest ranked opponent of the season when the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (10-1) come to the Baylor Tennis Center on Wednesday, Feb. 24 for a 3 p.m. match up.

This season the Bears are 7-0 at home and will look to run their home win streak to 14 matches as Baylor hosts its first top-10 ranked opponent of the season.

LAST €ˆTIME €ˆOUT: On Sunday, Feb. 21 Baylor cruised to two 7-0 victories at the Baylor Tennis Center in its first doubleheader of the season. First the Bears knocked off Prairie View A&M while sitting their top three singles players and then Baylor took care of UT Arlington winning all of the singles matches in straight sets.

CURRENT €ˆSTREAKS €ˆAND €ˆTRENDS: Overall, the Bears have won 23 of 26 matches dating back to last season. Baylor is 8-0 when winning the doubles point and 0-2 when losing it this season. Senior Denes Lukacs has won 27 of his last 31 matches overall, which includes an 8-0 start to this dual match season. Senior Domink Mueller has won eight of nine to start the dual match season, while junior Jordan Rux has won seven of eight.

WINNING AGAINST THE BEST: The Matt Knoll era has seen Baylor play 321 ranked opponents with the Bears going 236-86 in those matches. Last season the Bears were 20-6 against teams in the ITA's rankings of the top 75 college teams. Baylor's best year against ranked foes came in 2005 when they went 29-1 against the nation's elite with the only loss coming to No. 6 UCLA in the NCAA Tournament finals.

BAYLOR AGAINST TOP 10 TEAMS: During Matt Knoll's 13+ years at Baylor the Bears are 37-36 all-time against teams ranked in the top 10. This season Baylor has yet to face an opponent in the top 10, but last season Baylor was 3-5 against such opponents. The Bears best year against top 10 competition came in 2005 when they went 10-1 in such contests.

BAYLOR AGAINST TOP FIVE TEAMS: The Bears match up with Ohio State will be their 30th against top five ranked teams during the Matt Knoll Era. In the previous 29 matches Baylor is 13-16, going 1-2 in these matches last season. Baylor was 3-0 against top five ranked competition in both the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

BLEY SPARKS TURNAROUND: Since being inserted in the lineup for the first time this season against No. 19 Alabama, sophomore Julian Bley has produced three straight singles victories by winning twice at the No. 6 position and once at the third spot in the lineup. Baylor is also 3-0 in the three matches that the Veitshoechheim, Germany, native has played singles after going 0-2 in the previous two contests.

LUKACS AND MUELLER CONTINUE MARCH: Two of Baylor's seniors, Denes Lukacs and Dominik Mueller, are moving up the ladder in the Baylor record books with each win. Currently, Lukacs has 122 career singles wins, 78 career dual match singles wins and a .808 winning percentage (122-29). He is second on the career wins list, tied for third on the dual match list and in fourth place on the percentage list. Mueller has 105 career singles wins, 81 career dual match singles wins and a .784 (105-29) winning percentage. He is fifth in career wins, second in dual match wins, and fifth in winning percentage.

BAYLOR IN THE RANKINGS: In rankings released by the ITA on February 18, Baylor fell from No. 5 to No. 13 as a team. It is the lowest ranking Baylor has had since being ranked No. 14 in April of 2008. Individually, Baylor is represented in the singles rankings by Denes Lukacs at No. 20 and Jordan Rux at No. 26. The Bears have three doubles tandems in the current rankings as Rux partners with Maros Horny to be the 15th-ranked pairing. Horny is also teamed with Lukacs to make up the 51st-ranked duo, while Julian Bley and Attila Bucko are currently ranked 60th.

HOME €ˆSWEET €ˆHOME: The friendly confines of the Baylor Tennis Center have been very kind to the Bears. Over the eight years of its existence, Baylor is 120-6 in matches played in Waco. Under Knoll the Bears are 162-21 when playing at home including matches played at the Streich Courts, the Baylor Tennis Center and various indoor courts in the area. Currently, the Bears hold a 13-match win streak at the Baylor Tennis Center and have won 25 out of 26 in Waco.

SHUTTING €ˆOUT €ˆTHE €ˆCOMPETITION: €ˆIn ten matches this spring, Baylor has blanked its opponent seven times. Six of the wins have been 7-0 victories over Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 58 Iowa, No. 38 TCU, UT-Pan American, Prairie View A&M and UT Arlington, while the Bears beat No. 19 Alabama, 4-0. All of last season the Bears only had eight 7-0 wins and blanked only 10 opponents.

OWNING €ˆNON-CONFERENCE €ˆOPPOSITION: The Knoll era has brought much success in non-conference play with Baylor sporting a 238-65 mark in non-league play over the last 13+ years.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE: The third-ranked Buckeyes enter Wednesday match with only one loss in their first 11 matches. Last Sunday, Ohio State also hosted a doubleheader, beating No. 9 Kentucky, 5-2, and Wright State, 7-0. The Buckeyes advanced to the semifinals in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship before suffering their only loss of the season to eventual Indoor Champion and No. 6 Virginia, 4-1. Ty Tucker, in his 11th season as the Buckeyes coach, has a roster that boasts two seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.

PLAYERS €ˆTO €ˆWATCH: Three Buckeyes are in the top 125 of the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings. In singles, senior co-captain Justin Kronauge is No. 43, while freshman Dino Marcan is No. 46. Sophomore Chase Buchanan rounds out the ranked Buckeyes at No. 52.

SERIES RECORD: The Bears are 1-4 all-time versus the Buckeyes with Baylor's only win coming in 2004. Since that win Ohio State has won matches over Baylor in each of the last three seasons. Baylor is 0-1 in Waco, as well as 0-1 in Columbus and 1-2 in neutral site meetings against the Buckeyes. In Matt Knoll's time at Baylor, Ohio State is only one of three schools with a winning record against the Bears with at least four matches played. Tennessee and Georgia hold 3-1 records against Baylor.

LAST €ˆSEASON AGAINST OHIO STATE: The 10th-ranked Bears were blanked, 7-0 on Sunday, March 1 by the third-ranked Buckeyes at The Ohio State University Varsity Indoor Tennis Center. The Bears did take four of the singles matches to a third set. The Buckeyes and Bears also met in the quarterfinals of 2009 NCAA Tournament with third-ranked Ohio State taking a 4-1 win over sixth-ranked Baylor. Dominik Mueller was the lone Bear to post a point dispatching of Matt Allare 6-2, 6-3.

Live results for Wednesday's match can be found here.

Quotes- Head Coach Matt Knoll
On what a win would mean to his team...
"I think it just builds confidence and let's us know we are on the right track. We have worked pretty hard in the time since the Indoor. I feel like we are going to get a lot of opportunities, so it is not a make or break situation in February, but that is a real strong program and we have a lot of respect for them. To beat them would be a great kickoff to the rest of the year."

On the strengths of Ohio State's lineup...
"I think like a lot of great teams they are strong up and down that is what makes them a great team. Their No. 1 guy, Chase Buchanan, made the finals of the U.S. Open junior tournament. He is one of the top players in the world at his age. (Justin) Kronauge, their No. 2, is an All-American. They are bringing back five guys that played on the national finalist team. They just have a lot of talent up and down, a lot of experience. They have a great coach and a great program."

On the match...
"It is one of those matches that we are all going to have to show up all ready to go to have a chance to win. We need to take advantage of these chances we are getting now and play some good tennis. I think it is just a matter of handling the intensity of a big match, so far we haven't done a great job of that. That is what we are looking for more than the win is competing at every spot. Win or lose it s a good part of the process for us. "

On playing at home...
"I think it helps a ton. The shoe is kind of on the other foot in that we don't get a chance to practice indoors and when we go there they take advantage and conversely they don't get a chance to practice outdoors much. It is something we have to take advantage of. Unfortunately, we took our lumps at the Indoor, but the good news is the championship part of our season is outside."