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No. 28 Baylor (6-2) vs. Lamar (5-5) & UT Pan American (1-5) March 10, 2011 | 10 a.m. & 2 p.m. CST| Waco, Texas | Baylor Tennis Center (1,600) Live Scoring/Blog: BaylorBears.com |
Gametracker | In-Match Blog | Match Notes |
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The 28th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will get its first doubleheader test of the season as the Lamar Cardinals (10 a.m.) and the UT €ˆPan American Broncs (2 p.m.) come to the Baylor Tennis Center on Thursday.
Baylor (6-2) will look to continue its four-match win streak as the Bears entertain Lamar (5-5) and UT €ˆPan American (1-5) €ˆas part of a nine-match homestand. So far on the homestand, the Bears are 2-0 after shutting out Purdue on March 2 and tallying a 4-3 decision over No. 31 Mississippi State on Feb. 27.
This season, the Bears have been dominate at home winning five of six matches when they are the home team and holding a 4-1 mark at the Baylor Tennis Center.
Live scoring and a live blog for Thursday's match will be available on BaylorBears.com.
LAST TIME OUT: Baylor improved to 37-7 against first-time opponents in the Matt Knoll era as the Bears shutout Purdue, 7-0, on Wed., March 2 at the Baylor Tennis Center. The Bears won all three doubles matches for the sixth time this season to take the doubles point for the sixth straight match. In singles, Baylor won five of the six matches in straight sets to complete the shutout. The win was BU's second shutout of the season and kept the Bears perfect on their nine-match homestand.
LOOKING AHEAD: After its first doubleheader of the season, Baylor will enter the toughest stretch of its schedule as the Bears welcome No. 1 Virginia to the Baylor Tennis Center on Saturday at 1 p.m. That match will be followed by another home match against No. 2 Tennessee on March 15. Baylor is 3-4 all-time versus the Cavaliers, but the Bears haven't beaten them since 2007. Against the Volunteers, Baylor is 1-5 with its lone win coming in 2008.
BAYLOR IN DOUBLEHEADERS: Thursday's matches will be the first time Baylor has played a doubleheader this season. Last season, the Bears had two days on which they played multiple matches. Baylor recorded 7-0 wins in each of the four matches as the Bears beat Prairie View A&M and UT-Arlington on Feb. 21 and then Abilene Christian and St. Edwards on March 27. Under Matt Knoll, Baylor is 36-1 when playing more than one match on the same day. The Bears have not lost a match on a day they played multiple matches since March 7, 1998.
RANKED BEARS: In the latest ITA €ˆteam rankings released on March 8, the Bears remained at No. 28, after previously being ranked as high as No. 7 to start the season. The ranking is the lowest the Baylor program has been listed since being ranked No. 29 in the final poll of the 2001 season. Individually, Baylor has three singles players ranked in the ITA €ˆtop 125 as senior John Peers is ranked No. 22 with a 8-0 record in dual-match play, sophomore Roberto Maytin, who has a 6-1 mark in dual-match play, is ranked 110th and junior Kike Grangeiro (6-1) is now ranked No. 91. The Bears also have a doubles teams listed in the rankings with Peers and Maytin partnering together to be ranked 10th, after posting a 6-1 record to start the season.
CURRENT SINGLES STREAKS & TRENDS: Senior John Peers has been unbeatable for the Bears at the top of the singles lineup in posting a perfect 8-0 mark in six matches at No. 1 and one match at No. 2. The rest of Baylor's singles lineup has been influx throughout the year. As part of the changes Roberto Maytin has played at three different positions, but has recorded a 6-1 mark with five straight wins. Dating back to last season, the sophomore has won nine of his last 11 dual matches. Kike Grangeiro has also played well for the Bears with a 6-1 record competing at the five and six spots.
CURRENT DOUBLES STREAKS & TRENDS: BU's No. 1 and No. 3 doubles tandems have been very consistent throughout the dual-match season. At the top of the lineup, the seventh-ranked Roberto Maytin and John Peers are 6-1, while at the bottom Julian Bley and Kike Grangeiro have an unblemished 8-0 mark. Overall, Baylor has won six straight doubles points and has swept all three doubles matches six times this year.
HOME SWEET HOME: The friendly confines of the Baylor Tennis Center having been very kind to the Bears. Over the 10 years of its existence Baylor is 134-8 in matches played in Waco. Under Knoll the Bears are 184-23 when playing at home including matches played at the Streich Courts, the Baylor Tennis Center and various indoor courts in the area. From Jan. 26, 2002 until Jan. 29, 2006, the Bears did not lose at home contest racking up a 72-match win streak. This season, Baylor is 5-1 in home matches with a 4-1 mark at the Baylor Tennis Center.
SCOUTING LAMAR: Lamar enters Thursday's match with a 5-5 record, but the Cardinals have won three of their last four contests. This season Lamar has struggled on the road going just 1-5 in road contests away from Beaumont, Texas. In their last time on the court, the Cardinals played in a doubleheader defeating Weber State, 4-3, and then sweeping Northern Colorado, 7-0 on March 5. In his first season as head coach, Scott Shankles has a roster that features one graduate student, one senior, five juniors , one sophomore and no freshmen.
SERIES HISTORY: The Bears and Cardinals have not met since 2002, however, Baylor holds a 7-4 series advantage over Lamar. Since 1985, Baylor has a 6-0 record over Lamar with four of those wins coming in the Matt Knoll era. In those four contests, the Bears have recorded a 7-1 win, two 7-0 victories and a 6-0 shutout with all the matches coming in Waco.
LAST TIME AGAINST LAMAR: On March 16, 2002, 10th-ranked Baylor got the better of Lamar in the first match of a doubleheader for the Bears that day. No doubles matches were played in the contest, because of time constraints, but the Bears won all the singles contests in straight sets to seal the shutout victory.
SCOUTING UT PAN AMERICAN: The Broncs come into Thursday's match with a 1-5 mark on the season. UT €ˆPan American has lost to two teams that Baylor has already beaten this year as the Broncs fell to both TCU €ˆand SMU €ˆby a 6-1 margin. In his second year as the head coach at UT €ˆPan American Chris Taylor has a roster that features two seniors, three juniors, no sophomores and three freshmen.
SERIES HISTORY: Before last season's Baylor win, the Bears and Broncs had not met since 2002. Overall, Baylor leads the series 11-10. All three matches during the Matt Knoll era have been 7-0 wins for Baylor. Overall, the Bears have won five straight over the Broncs.
LAST TIME AGAINST UT PAN AMERICAN: A sixth-ranked Baylor squad posted a 7-0 shutout of the Broncs last season in Waco on Feb. 9 to improve its record to 5-0. Baylor won all three doubles matches and recorded straight set wins in all six singles matches.
QUOTES - Head Coach Matt Knoll
On what a doubleheader gives to his team:
"It is just a lot of tennis and that is what we are looking for now. We have had a few days off and it will be great to just get back on the court and compete. It gives us a chance to get a few other guys in there that have practiced hard and certainly deserve an opportunity to compete. I know they are excited to get out and play."
On his singles and doubles lineups:
"I think that is what is great about playing two. It gives you more options that way. Everybody is going to get a singles match. Everybody is going to get to play doubles and that is what you are looking for. Certainly some guys are going to play more than others, but everybody is going to be ready to play. I think it is a fun day at the facility when everybody shows up excited, because they get to compete and I know that that experience is really going to help everybody."