Men's Tennis Puts Four In NCAA Individual Championships
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
INDIANAPOLIS - A quartet of Baylor men's tennis players will represent the Bears in the individual portion of the NCAA Tennis Championships starting May 20 in Waco.
The NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Subcommittee made the announcement Wednesday that Julian Lenz, Tony Lupieri and Max Tchoutakian would be three of 49 at-large bids into the 64-man singles bracket, while Lenz and partner Diego Galeano are one of 11 automatic selections into the 32-team doubles draw.
The NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will be held at the Hurd Tennis Center on May 20-25 in Waco, following the conclusion of team championship play.
Lenz is the No. 2 seed for the event, after being ranked No. 1 in the last ITA rankings. The junior has racked up a 24-7 record overall and a 14-4 mark in dual-match play. He is 15-6 against ranked foes, including wins over then-No. 2 Ryan Shane then-No. 5 Soren Hess-Olesen and then-No. 8 Yannick Hanfmann. Lenz will be participating in his third straight NCAA Singles Championship. He has lost in the first round in the previous two trips.
Lupieri, has been ranked in the ITA top 35 for the whole season, but he currently resides at No. 33, after tallying a 16-11 singles record overall and a 9-9 mark in dual-match play. The senior is 6-10 against ranked opponents, but has wins over then-No. 1 ranked Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and then-No. 30 Ben Lott.
Tchoutakian, ranked No. 74 in the latest ITA singles listings, has produced a 16-8 record overall and a 14-7 mark in dual-match play. The first-year Bear has a 6-5 mark against ranked foes, but upset No. 35 Dane Webb of Oklahoma in his last match out.
In doubles, Galeano and Lenz were ranked No. 18 in the latest ITA listings. However, the tandem is listed by the NCAA as a No. 5-8 seed for the doubles draw, after earning the Big 12's automatic bid. Galeano and Lenz are 19-1 on the year and boast an 8-0 record against ranked foes. The pairing went 4-0 in Big 12 play and 6-0 at the top of the doubles lineup for BU. They have beaten pairings ranked No. 8, No. 16 and No. 20 on the year, while helping BU rack up a 23-2 record in the doubles point.
Baylor will host first and second round action of the NCAA Tennis Championships May 8-9 at the Hurd Tennis Center. The action in Waco gets underway on May 8, with second-seeded LSU (17-8) and No. 3 seed UTSA (17-8) meeting at 3 p.m. Head coach Matt Knoll's second-ranked Bears will take on fourth-seeded Bryant (8-11) in first round action at 6 p.m. The winners of those two matches will then play on May 9, at 5 p.m.
To stay up to date with the team all season follow @BaylorMTennis on Twitter.
Players Mentioned
