By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            After dominating the ACC for 16 years at Virginia, first-year Baylor coach Brian Boland will get his first test in the Big 12 when his sixth-ranked Bears (17-2) host No. 9 TCU (15-3) at 6 p.m. Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center. 
            "(The ACC) was certainly challenging, and the conference got better each year," said Boland, who won 13 ACC regular-season and 12 tournament titles at Virginia. "But, in the Big 12, everybody can play at a top-20, top-25 level. So, you never get a day off. I think that's a positive coming into the latter stages of the season where we have time to get better and we're preparing for when we ultimately want to peak, which is the NCAA Tournament."
            All six of the men's tennis teams in the league are ranked in the top 30 nationally, with Baylor facing fourth-ranked Texas (17-2) at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Austin. The Bears will host No. 17 Oklahoma (13-5) and No. 27 Oklahoma State (13-6) next weekend and then close out regular-season play on April 13 at No. 29 Texas Tech (13-7), trying to win their 14^thconference championship. 
            "They've proven it all year, they can all step on the court and compete with top-5 teams," Boland said. "I had to redraw the schedule a little bit in June, but it's worked out incredibly well in terms of the balance and the timing and the training blocks that were needed so that we're well-prepared. The great thing is we're healthy. We started out with some health issues, and now the guys are healed up, feeling good, and there's nothing important than that."
            The Bears are 1-1 this season versus top-10 teams, splitting with North Carolina and Mississippi State at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships last month in Chicago. 
            Baylor is 10-0 at home this season and has won 26 of its last 27 matches in Waco, the only loss coming last April to Texas. Last year, Baylor lost 4-1 at TCU and then upset the seventh-ranked and top-seeded Horned Frogs, 4-2, at the Big 12 tournament. 
            "That match was probably one of the best matches for me since I came to college," said sophomore Sven Lah. "Hopefully, we get another one here at home. And if we get another one, it will be much better."
            In the latest ITA rankings, Baylor has a trio of ranked singles players in No. 40 Johannes Schretter, No. 45 Matias Soto and No. 82 Will Little and the top-ranked doubles tandem in the country in Lah and senior Jimmy Bendeck. 
            After not even practicing together last season, Lah and Bendeck are 20-3 overall, 9-2 in dual matches and won the doubles title at the ITA All-American Championships in the fall. 
            "We actually used to live together, and we were not friends. As weird as it sounds, it was real," Lah said. "Coach Boland told us that if we can lose together, we can win together. We already lost a lot together. This year, we changed the picture and we've won a lot together."
            TCU also has three ranked singles players in No. 7 Alex Rybakov, No. 25 Alastair Gray and No. 115 Bertus Kruger, with Kruger and Reese Stalder at No. 6 in the doubles rankings. TCU leads the all-time series, 34-25, but Baylor has won 17 of the last 20 matchups. 
            Boland said the Bears have not exceeded his expectations, "I really believed in them when we first arrived at Baylor and then we brought in some guys in January and added a good player from Maryland in the fall."
            "I really believed we had a team that could compete at the highest level," he said. "The leadership's been great, they've embraced a lot of change. Anytime a new staff comes in, there's a lot of change, and they've certainly done a great job buying into some of the things we wanted to do. And I think they're enjoying it, I think they're having fun playing tennis. They walk out on the court every day and show up at the Hurd Center for practices and matches, and they can't wait to get on the court."
            Free T-shirts will be handed out to the first 250 fans for Friday's match, which will begin with doubles at 6 p.m. 
            "We'd like to fill up the Hurd Center," Boland said. "I know TCU is bringing a lot of fans down on buses, and we've got another bus or two coming from Dallas, so we need the fans in Waco to come out."
 
 


WACO, Texas – No. 6 Baylor men's tennis (17-2, 0-0 Big 12) will begin its quest for its 14^th Big 12 regular season title when it hosts No. 9 TCU (15-3, 0-0 Big 12) Friday night at 6 p.m. CT at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco.
 
Free t-shirts will be given to the first 250 fans in the stands with doubles slated to start the match.
 
The Bears will play their third top-10 opponent and 12^th ranked foe of the season to open conference action. Baylor will look to defend its perfect 10-0 home record this season and an impressive 26-1 mark in the last 27 home matches.
 
Baylor comes into the match with three ranked singles players in No. 40 Johannes Schretter, No. 45 Matias Soto and No. 82 Will Little and the top-ranked doubles tandem in the country in Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah.
 
Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs also have three ranked singles players in No. 7 Alex Rybakov, No. 25 Alastair Gray and No. 115 Bertus Kruger. Kruger and Reese Stalder combine to be the No. 6-ranked doubles team in the latest ITA rankings.
 
TCU leads the all-time series, 34-25, but BU is 17-3 in its last 20 matches against the Horned Frogs dating back to 2002. Despite the dropping the regular season meeting in Ft. Worth last season, the Bears upset the top-seeded Frogs, 4-2, at the Big 12 Championship semifinals in Austin.
 
Sven Lah, Matias Soto, Will Little and Constantin Frantzen all captured singles win in the top-10 win.
 
After the matchup, the Bears will head south to face No. 4 Texas in Austin on Sunday. First serve is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and will be live on the Longhorn Network.
 
Fans can keep up with Baylor's men's tennis team on Twitter (@BaylorMTennis), Facebook (Baylor Men's Tennis), and Instagram (@BaylorMTennis).