Baylor University Team Page
WACO, Texas - The 15th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team (14-4) will travel to face No. 38 Texas Tech for its first Big 12 match of the season at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the McLeod Tennis Center in Lubbock, Texas.
"It is always a big challenge," head coach Matt Knoll said. "Lubbock is a weird place to play in terms of there is a little bit of altitude. It is also always windier than any other place on Earth, so we are going to have to play well out there in order to pick up a win."
The Bears have five singles competitors ranked in the latest ITA rankings. Patrick Pradella, Julian Lenz, Tony Lupieri, Mate Zsiga, and Marko Krickovic are ranked No. 33, 71, 80, 99 and 101 respectively.
Baylor's Lupieri is currently riding a four-match win streak that has raised his dual-match record to 13-3. Lupieri has also won matches against three other ranked opponents including a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 110 Jonny Grimal of Memphis in his last appearance.
Texas Tech has one doubles pairing ranked in the latest ITA rankings in Gabriel Dias and Victor Manzini at No. 69.
Texas Tech is 14-6 on the season, but fell 4-3 at home to No. 22 Tulsa on Friday night in its last match out.
With a win, BU will even the overall series record which TTU now leads 26-25. The two teams met twice last year with Baylor losing the regular season matchup 6-1, before claiming a 4-3 victory in the second round of the Big 12 Championships. Overall, Baylor has won 20 of its last 21 matches vs. the Red Raiders.
In last week's Big 12 coaches' preseason poll, Baylor was picked to finish second in the league, while TTU was predicted to take fifth.
In 16 seasons of Big 12 action, BU is 95-17 with 10 regular-season titles and seven tournament crowns.
Following Friday's match, Baylor returns to the Hurd Tennis Center to host No. 11 Oklahoma at 6 p.m. on Friday.
To stay up to date with the team all season follow @BaylorMTennis on Twitter.
