Jan. 24, 2015 Complete Results
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas - The sixth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team (1-1) began its ITA Kick-Off Weekend with a 4-0 victory over No. 61 Tulane (3-1) Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The Bears played solid in doubles for a second-straight match as Max Tchoutakian and Mate Zsiga rolled to a 6-0 victory over Sebastian Rey and Ian Van Cott at the No. 3 spot. Baylor then clinched the doubles point with Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz downing Dominik Koepfer and Chi-Shan Jao, 6-2, on court one.
In singles, 26th-ranked Tony Lupieri got his first dual-match win of the season by taking down Alex Van Cott, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 2 position.
From there BU's two freshman in the lineup clinched the match. First, Tchoutakian downed Rey, 7-5, 6-3, at the No. 3 position.
Then in his first collegiate dual-match, Juan Benitez jumped out to a 6-2 first-set win over Ian Van Cott at the bottom of the lineup. However, the freshman fell behind 5-2 in the second-set before storming back to force a tiebreaker, which he won 7-2, to clinch set and the contest.
NOTABLES
? Baylor has competed in and hosted the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in five of the seven years of its existence, winning all nine matches and advancing to the national event each year.
TOP QUOTE #1
"It was good to be outside today and get a win. It was great to see our young guys step up and get victories. We will face a good team tomorrow and we are going to have to play better. I think our guys are excited and they will come out focused and ready to execute. It should be a good day." - head coach Matt Knoll
TOP QUOTE #2
"Our doubles has been a strength, so far. Our guys have really embraced the new shorter format. We have had good energy in doubles." - head coach Matt Knoll
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will now play No. 40 Drake at 3 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center. The winner of that match will be one of 15 teams to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago, Ill., Feb. 13-16. Saturday's losers No. 61 Tulane and No. 52 Miami will play at noon in the consolation match of the ITA Kick-off Weekend.
