The Baylor men's tennis team placed a conference-best five student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 First Team, the conference office announced Tuesday.
Jimmy Bendeck, Constantin Frantzen, Will Little, Bjoern Petersen and Johannes Schretter were selected to the Academic All-Big 12 first team. The Bears have now had at least two honorees in 16 consecutive seasons.
Little made the Academic All-Big 12 First Team for the third consecutive year. Little, an accounting major from Joplin, Mo., is 8-3 in dual-match singles play this season and a winner of three straight matches. He is 2-1 against ranked opponents.
Bendeck and Schretter are now both two-time first team selections. A finance and entrepreneurship and corporate innovation double major, Bendeck is 13-9 in singles play this season. Schretter, a supply chain management/real estate major from Graz, Austria, is ranked No. 64 in the country with a 12-7 singles record. He also teams up with Will Little as the ninth-ranked doubles duo and holds a 13-10 record.
It is the first time Frantzen and Petersen have been honored. Both sophomores were not eligible for the award their freshman season. Frantzen, a pre-business major from Augsburg, Germany, has posted an 11-3 dual-match singles record and partners with freshman Akos Kotorman to be the 54th-ranked doubles tandem in the country. The duo holds a 11-4 overall record.
A pre-business major from Eckernfoerde, Germany, Petersen is ranked No. 79 in singles action and holds an 11-13 overall record and a winner of four matches over ranked opponents this season.
To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 20 percent of their team's scheduled contests. First-team honorees have a 3.20 GPA or higher. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
Next up, fifth-seeded Baylor will open its Big 12 Championship run against fourth-seeded Oklahoma State on Friday at 9 a.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.
