IRVING, Texas - Baylor men's tennis senior Julian Lenz was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year as voted on by the league’s head coaches and announced Thursday.
In his final season in Waco, Lenz has been a force at the top of the singles lineup for the Bears. He has been ranked in the ITA top 30 for a majority of the season, but currently resides at No. 12 after tallying a 24-5 singles record overall and a 19-3 mark in dual-match play.
The senior is 13-5 against ranked opponents, including wins over then-No. 5 Arthur Rinderknech of Texas A&M and then-No. 18 Felipe Soares of Texas Tech. He went 3-0 in Big 12 Conference action and won both of his singles matches at the Big 12 Championship.
Lenz is just the fourth BU men’s player to win the honor and the first since Lars Poerschke in 2007. Benedikt Dorsch was a three-time conference player of the year for the Bears in 2003, ’04 and ’05, while Johann Jooste captured the program’s first honor in 1999.
Meanwhile, Lenz was also named to the All-Big 12 singles first team for a fourth-straight season.
Following the 2016 NCAA Team Championships, the Giessen, Germany, native was selected to represent Baylor in the singles portion of the NCAA Championships on May 25-30.
Earlier this week, Lenz was also recognized by Intercollegiate Tennis Association with two Texas region awards. He garnered the region’s ITA Senior Player of the Year and also won the ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award.
For his career, the four-time letterwinner has tallied a career 112-32 singles mark and a 93-25 career doubles record, making him the 10th player in program history to reach 100 career singles victories. Lenz is also one of only six BU players in program history to reach 200 combined singles and doubles career wins. He currently has 205 combined victories, joining 200-club members Benjamin Becker (245), Lars Poerschke (221), Denes Lukacs (214), Matija Zgaga (203) and Benedikt Dorsch (202).
On the All-Big 12 singles second team, junior Max Tchoutakian was BU’s only other player recognized. The 2015 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year has an 18-10 record in singles play overall and boasts a 14-7 in dual-match contests in 2016. He owned a 2-3 mark in the Big 12, while playing the majority of his matches at the No. 2 spot. The Marseille, France, native was honored last season as well on All-Big 12 singles team and is currently ranked No. 94 in the country in singles.
The 35th-ranked Baylor men's team will begin its NCAA Championships run with a first round match vs. No. 22 Florida State Saturday at 9 a.m. CT at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
Keep up with the Bears all season long by following @BaylorMTennis on Twitter.
Men’s All-Big 12 Honors
Coach of the Year: Brett Masi (Texas Tech) & David Roditi (TCU)
Freshman of the Year: Alex Rybakov (TCU)
Newcomer of the Year: Julian Cash (Oklahoma State)
Player of the Year: Julian Lenz (Baylor)
First Team
Singles
Julian Lenz, Baylor, Sr.
Cameron Norrie, TCU, So.
Alex Rybakov, TCU, Fr.
Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma, Sr.
Felipe Soares, Texas Tech, Sr.
Andrew Harris, Oklahoma, Jr.
Doubles
Hudson Blake, Jr. & Reese Stalder, Fr. (TCU)
Arjun Kadhe, Jr. & Julian Cash, So. (Oklahoma State)
Andrew Harris, Jr. & Axel Alvarez, Sr. (Oklahoma)
Second Team
Singles
Alex Sendegeya, Texas Tech, So.
Lucas Gerch, Oklahoma State, Jr.
Max Tchoutakian, Baylor, Jr.
Alex Ghilea, Oklahoma, Jr.
Jolan Cailleau, Texas Tech, Jr.
Guillermo Nunez, TCU, So.
Doubles
Alex Rybakov, Fr. & Cameron Norrie, So. (TCU)
Lucas Gerch, Jr. & Jurence Mendoza, So. (Oklahoma State)
Hugo Dojas, Sr. & Felipe Soares, Sr. (Texas Tech)
