Sept. 19, 2013

WACO, Texas - The Baylor men's tennis team will open its 2013 fall season by hosting student-athletes from nine other schools for the Baylor HEB Intercollegiate, Friday through Sunday, at the Hurd Tennis Center.

"We have had this tournament for 13 years and it has a long tradition of being a great event," head coach Matt Knoll said. "I think this year will be no exception. We are going to get some good tennis in and it is a super way to kick off the fall. The guys have been playing hard and starting to get their legs under them. I know they are excited to get out and compete."

The tournament includes two 32-man singles draws and one 64-team doubles draw. Other schools sending athletes to the tournament include Gonzaga, Idaho, Illinois, Laredo Community College, Louisiana Lafayette, Oklahoma, UT-Arlington and UT-San Antonio.

Baylor will have six players, Diego Galeano, Julian Lenz, Tony Lupieri, Patrick Pradella, Vincent Schneider and Mate Zsiga, in action. All six BU players will play in the singles gold draw and open play with singles matches on Friday morning.

To begin his final season at BU, Pradella is the event's No. 1 overall seed and is currently ranked No. 16 in the latest ITA rankings. He was 20-6 last season and won Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors. Pradella will play UTA's Carlos Arbiza in the first round at 9:15 a.m..

Lenz is the tournament's No. 2 and will face Sam Grey of Oklahoma at 10:30 a.m. The BU sophomore was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season, after going 27-10 overall. He is currently ranked No. 38 nationally.

Zsiga, ranked No. 60 in the ITA singles listings, will be the event's No. 3 seed. The junior was 25-10 overall last year. He will battle Tomas Stillman of UTSA at 10 a.m. to open the event.

Lupieri, a junior, who is currently ranked No. 79 by the ITA, will be the fourth seed in the singles draw. He will take on Jake Wynan of Louisiana-Lafayette at 8 a.m. to open his run at the event. Last year, Lupieri was 20-6 overall.

Galeano, the No. 8 seed, will face Daniel Echeverry of UTA at 9:15 a.m. Galeano is currently unranked, but did post a 20-5 overall record last season.

Newcomer Schneider will play the event's No. 6 seed Alvaro Nazal of Gonzaga in his first collegiate match at 8 a.m.

In doubles, all three BU duos will have a first round bye and not start play until Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

BU's only ranked tandem of Galeano and Zsiga will partner together for the tournament, after going 9-5 last season. The duo is currently ranked No. 22 by the ITA.

Baylor's other tandems competing at the tournament will be Lenz and Lupeiri, along with Pradella and Schneider.

For the latest results and schedule visit: http://texas.tournaments.usta.com/Tournaments/Common/Default.aspx and use tournament ID #: 800044213.

Live video streaming will be available for free on BaylorBears.com for matches played on the grandstand courts at the Hurd Tennis Center.

With inclement weather in the forecast, matches could be moved to the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.