WACO, Texas - The 43rd-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team will play its final match of the regular season against No. 4 TCU Wednesday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The contest is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Baylor (14-11, 1-3 Big 12) looks to ends its current two-match losing skid to conclude conference play, last topping No. 17 Texas, 4-2, on April 5 in Waco. Last weekend, BU dropped two matches against No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 14 Oklahoma State to fall to 1-3 in conference play.
Senior Julian Lenz leads the Bears with a No. 15 ITA singles ranking, boasting a 17-3 dual-match singles record. BU has another ranked singles player in junior Max Tchoutakian, coming in at No. 87. Tchoutakian also pairs with freshman Tommy Podvinski for a No. 77 doubles ranking.
Before his season-ending injury, redshirt freshman Will Little partnered with Lenz as the No. 21 doubles tandem in the country.
Baylor trails the all-time series against the Horned Frogs, 31-24, but holds an impressive 19-5 advantage under head coach Matt Knoll. The Bears are riding a 16-match winning streak against TCU, last falling during the 2001 season.
Last season, Baylor opened conference play with a 4-0 sweep over the Horned Frogs on March 3, and then BU captured a close 4-3 victory over TCU to advance to the Big 12 Championship finals on April 25.
TCU (21-2, 3-0 Big 12) is riding a 16-match winning streak coming into Wednesday’s match. The Horned Frogs last dropped a match on Feb. 14, which was a 4-1 decision to No. 1 Virginia at the ITA National Indoor Championship.
The Horned Frogs are led by Cameron Norrie, currently ranked No. 5 in the latest ITA singles rankings, followed by No. 24 Alex Rybakov and No. 88 Guillermo Nuñez. TCU has one ranked doubles duo in No. 73 Hudson Blake and Reese Stalder.
