Baylor University Team Page

WACO, Texas - The No. 18 Baylor men's tennis team will return home to open a three-match homestand vs. No. 69 Purdue on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center.

The Bears, 2-1 on the year, are coming off a 5-2 road loss at then-ranked No. 22 Tulsa on Sunday.

"I think Tulsa was sort of a wake-up call," head coach Matt Knoll said. "You never know until you get to the matches how you are going to respond, but we have certainly responded well in practice. I think we have learned a lot and I think we will grow from it. We have a lot of confidence that we are going to have a really good season, if we can get ourselves dialed in with the right intensity level."

The Bears again come into the match with three singles players ranked in the ITA top 100. Baylor's Marko Krickovic, Julian Lenz and Mate Zsiga are ranked 50, 53, and 60 respectively. The Bears also have one doubles team, Krickovic and Robert Verzaal, ranked No. 49.

The Boilermakers are 7-1 on the season. They too are looking to rebound after suffering their first loss. Purdue suffered a 7-0 loss at No. 52 Denver in it last match out.

The Boilermakers are led by third-year head coach, and former Baylor player and coach, Pawel Gajdzik. During his time as a Baylor player, Gajdzik won the 1998 Big 12 singles and doubles titles and was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year while leading the team to its first NCAA tournament appearance.

Baylor is 2-0 all-time vs. the Boilermakers, sweeping them by identical 7-0 scores in 2011 and 2012.

Following the match vs. Purdue, the Bears won't be in action again until hosting a doubleheader against Texas Pan American and UT Arlington on Saturday, Feb. 16.