Lupieri, Doubles Tandem Advance In NCAA Championships
BU's athletes will play in the round of 16 Friday.
WACO, Texas – Baylor men's tennis senior Tony Lupieri tallied another win in the NCAA Singles Championship, while Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz opened their NCAA Doubles Championship run victoriously Thursday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The 35th-ranked Lupieri upset the No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Axel Alvarez of Oklahoma, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of action to earn ITA All-America honors as making the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16 is an automatic qualification for that distinction.
It is the first All-American honor of Lupieri's career and his second win over the country's No. 1 ranked player in 2015. He beat Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia early this year.
Lupieri improved to 18-13 on the year to advance to the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16.
In doubles action, the eighth-ranked duo of Lenz and Galeano squeezed past Texas A&M's 10th-ranked Harrision Adams and Shane Vinsant, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. The Baylor pairing has now won 21 of their last 22 matches to up its record to 24-2.
Baylor's other two singles players, Lenz and Max Tchoutakian both lost three-set battles.
The country's second-ranked player, Lenz, lost to No. 45 Jonny Wang of USC, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. The junior Bear broke to go up 5-4 in the third-set, before losing the next three games to drop the match. He ends the season with a 26-9 singles record and a 17-8 mark against ranked foes.
Meanwhile, the 58th-ranked Tchoutakian pushed No. 14 Mikelis Libieitis of Tennessee to the brink, before losing 6-2, 6-7(6), 7-6(5). The first-year Bear ends his year at 18-12 in singles and 7-8 against ranked foes.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Under Knoll, Baylor players have earned 28 All-American honors, including 18 singles honors by nine different players.
- Lupieri is the first BU player to advance to the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16 since Denes Lukacs accomplished the feat in 2010.
TOP QUOTE #1
“Up and down day, four matches, two and two. To lose two matches like we did late in the third set is disappointing; we served for one of them. Max had some chances against a good player, but the guys were fighting hard.” – head coach Matt Knoll on the day
“It's an incredible way to cap his career, to do so well in this tournament. It's not easy to be an All-American in our sport, very few guys get to do it. To get your name up on that list and the picture up on that wall we have in the facility here is something that will last a life time.” – Knoll on Lupieri's day
TOP QUOTE #3
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WHAT'S NEXT
Tony Lupieri will now face Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia at 11:30 a.m. Earlier this year on Feb. 14, Lupieri beat Kwiatkowski, 6-4, 7-6(10) in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz will now face Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim of Wake Forest at 12 p.m.
Live scoring and a video feed of the match will be available for each match through links on BaylorBears.com.
Follow the official Twitter account of the team: @BaylorMTennis for an inside look at the team with scores, notes and stories.
Burgic, Doubles Duo Move On In NCAA Championships
BU's athletes will play in the round of 16 Friday.
WACO, Texas – Baylor women's tennis senior Ema Burgic picked up another win in the NCAA Singles Championship, while partnering with Blair Shankle to card an opening round NCAA Doubles Championship triumph Thursday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The 22nd-ranked Burgic downed No. 57 Madison Westby of USC, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round of play to earn ITA All-America honors as making the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16 is an automatic qualification for that honor.
It is the second singles All-American honor of Burgic's career, after also receiving the distinction in 2013. She also twice received ITA All-American doubles honors in 2012 and 2013.
Burgic improved to 20-7 on the season and 8-6 against ranked foes to advance to the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16.
In doubles action, the 14th-ranked Burgic and Shankle upset the eighth-ranked duo of Pleun Burgmans and Emily Flickinger from Auburn, 6-1, 6-2. The win was the first by the BU duo since March 15 and it improved its record to 12-4.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Under Scrivano, Baylor players have earned 29 All-American honors, including 15 singles honors by eight different players.
- Burgic is the first BU player to advance to the NCAA Singles Championship round of 16 since Nina Secerbegovic accomplished the feat in 2012.
TOP QUOTE #1
“Ema is playing with a level of excellent focus and effort at the moment. She's keeping things simple and competing hard. I am proud of her. She is very deserving of her fourth All-American honor.” - Head coach Joey Scrivano on Ema Burgic's win
TOP QUOTE #2
“Today it was cooler and it was nice to be on the court. For me it was perfect conditions to play in. Compared to yesterday I don't think I was trying as hard, I was really loose playing point after point, and not thinking about winning or losing. I was also so happy when I saw I was planning on court number one, it gives you some confidence because that's my court where I play my best. I played pretty good today and I was satisfied. I was focused and didn't let myself lose focus at all, I was thinking about first serve percentage so that I don't have to serve that many second serves.” – Ema Burgic on the victory
TOP QUOTE #3
“Blair and Ema complement each other very well. They played with great energy and enthusiasm today. When they do that they are very difficult team to beat.” – Scrivano on the doubles pairing of Shankle and Burgic
WHAT'S NEXT
Ema Burgic will now face UCLA's Chanelle Van Nguyen, ranked No. 21, Friday at 10 a.m. On the doubles side, Burgic and Shankle will next play Arizona State's Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad, ranked No. 26, at 2 p.m.
Live scoring and a video feed of the match will be available for each match through links on BaylorBears.com. Check BaylorBears.com
Follow the official Twitter account of the team: @BaylorWTennis for an inside look at the team with scores, notes and stories.
