Men's Tennis Preview: Baylor
3/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 15 TCU men's tennis team will begin conference play by traveling to No. 5 Baylor to face the defending Big 12 Champions at 6 p.m., at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco.
The Horned Frogs (8-3) will kick off their third season in the Big 12 against the Bears (9-2), who have won 12 regular season conference titles and 11 in the last 13 years. The match could potentially be moving to the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center depending on the weather, with the decision coming closer to match time.
TCU Notables
The Frogs head into the match after a double-header sweep against Wisconsin (6-1) and Incarnate Word (5-1). With the wins, TCU remains undefeated at home with a 4-0 record.
TCU has three ranked singles players in No. 28 Cameron Norrie, No. 48 Nick Chappell and No. 110 Facundo Lugones. Guillermo Nuñez kept alive his win streak against Wisconsin, pushing the streak total to a team-leading 11. Eight of the Frogs have above a .500 record with Trevor Johnson leading the pack with an outstanding 18-8 record.
The senior doubles pair and No. 20 ranked duo of Chappell and Will Stein have continued their success on the court, extending their win total to 15 on the season, with six of the wins coming over ranked opponents.
Scouting the Bears
The No. 5 Baylor Bears hold a 9-2 record with notable wins over No. 4 Duke, No. 11 Virginia and No. 21 UCLA. The Bears fought their way to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship only to fall to conference foe Oklahoma in the semi-finals.
No. 11 Julian Lenz and Felipe Rios have both provided a spark of energy for the Bears. Lenz is an impressive 17-4 on the season, followed by a second-best 15-5 Rios, who holds a team best six-match win streak. Tony Lupieri sits at No. 23 in the ITA singles poll, while newcomer Maxime Tchoutakian grabbed a No. 40 ranking.
The Bears are 34-7 in doubles play with the pair of Rios and Vince Schneider at the helm defending a tough 11-1 record. The Rios/Schneider duo is streaking, winning their past seven matches propelling them to the No. 21 ITA ranking.
All-Time Series
TCU and Baylor will be meeting for the 54th time in program history, with the Frogs leading the series with a 31-22 overall record. The Bears have made a big dent in the record though, with Baylor winning the last 14 meetings and holding a 3-0 record since TCU joined the Big 12.
Live Results
Live scoring, video and blogging of all the matches will be available at BaylorBears.com, with a final recap and results available on GoFrogs.com following the completion of competition. In-match updates can also be found by following TCU men's tennis on twitter (@TCUMensTennis).
