Baylor University Team Page

WACO, Texas - The 38th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will be back in action this Friday to host No. 5 Kentucky at the Hurd Tennis Center at 2:30 p.m.

"We feel like we are a good team," head coach Matt Knoll said. "We feel like we are in a good place relative to this group of matches coming up. Kentucky is going to be a huge challenge and I think we are going to be ready for it."

Following this past weekend's wins over Laredo Community College and Abilene Christian, the Bears (9-1) are a perfect 7-0 at home and currently riding a seven-match win streak.

BU will enter the match with four singles players ranked in the ITA's latest rankings. Julian Lenz, Marko Krickovic, Mate Zsiga, and Patrick Pradella are ranked No. 43, 77, 78, and 122 respectively. The Bears also have one doubles team of Julian Lenz and Patrick Pradella ranked at No. 53.

Kentucky (14-2) comes into the match after a 4-0 win vs. LSU. The Wildcats bring two ranked singles players in No. 18 Tom Jomby and No. 21 Anthony Rossi. UK also has one doubles team ranked in the No. 19 team of Jomby and Kevin Lai.

"We know their players pretty well, so we know what we are getting into," Knoll said. "When you look at their team, you see that their one and two guys each have one loss against a very good schedule. We are certainly underdogs, but we are excited about that roll for sure."

Baylor has never lost to Kentucky, holding a perfect 8-0 record vs. the Wildcats. The last meeting between the two teams was in 2012 when the Bears recorded a 4-3 win on the road.

"We had a really good match with them last year," Knoll said. "We were able to beat them at their place and they went on to be SEC champions. I am sure they are going to be excited to come here and beat us at our place. The emotional nature of this match will keep our guys awake and ready to go."