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April 4, 2011

WHAT:  No. 7 Texas (15-5, 1-1 Big 12) hosts No. 11 Baylor (13-3, 2-0 Big 12).

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 6 – 6 p.m. Central – Penick-Allison Tennis Center – Austin, Texas (admission is free)

LIVE SCORING:  TexasSports.com

LAST TIME OUT:  Texas defeated Rice by a 6-1 count on Saturday (April 2) in Austin.

LAST MEETING vs. BAYLOR:  Texas defeated Baylor by a 4-3 count on April 10, 2010 in Waco.  Texas and Baylor have combined to win 13 of 14 Big 12 Conference regular-season championships. 

MATCH PROMOTIONS:  The first 50 fans to visit the Texas Athletics marketing table will receive a free polo shirt (adult sizes only).  Gates open one hour before the start of the match. 

Free hot dogs will be available between the doubles and singles sessions, while supplies last. 

PRE-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
“We’re back into conference play this week.  We’ve battled with Baylor for many years in this conference, and I expect nothing different on Wednesday night.  We’d love to see our fans come out and support the guys.  It should be a great match, and I hope to see a great crowd Wednesday night.”  

ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
Singles
18. John Peers (Baylor)
28. Ed Corrie (Texas)
59. Kellen Damico (Texas)
81. Dennis Lengsfeld (Baylor)
83. Roberto Maytin (Baylor)
88. Kike Grangeiro (Baylor)
90. Jean Andersen (Texas)
Doubles
3. Ed Corrie/Jean Andersen (Texas)
7. John Peers/Roberto Maytin (Baylor)
30. Kellen Damico/David Holiner (Texas)
57. Ben Chen/Daniel Whitehead (Texas)
83. Jordan Rux/Sergio Ramirez (Baylor)

THE 2011 LONGHORNS:  Under 11th-year head coach Michael Center, Texas has reached the NCAA semifinals or better in three of the last five seasons.  The Longhorns have taken on a challenging slate in 2011 and enter the match ranked seventh, nationally.

UT opened the season on Jan. 15 with a 5-2 win over California in Tulsa, Okla.  The next day, Texas defeated host Tulsa by a 6-1 count.   The Horns took to the road again the following weekend and held on for a 4-3 win over host Michigan.

The Horns registered a pair of 4-0 victories over Hawaii and Rice (Jan. 28-29) during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Austin to earn their trip to The Emerald City before posting a 4-3 win over No. 10 Texas A&M in a non-conference match in Houston.  Texas took to the road again in February and posted a 4-3 win over No. 25 Florida State on its home courts in Tallahassee, Fla., before venturing to Seattle for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, where it defeated Kentucky and Illinois and suffered a loss to Ohio State.

Texas returns four regular singles starters from the 2009-10 squad that won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and reached the round of 16 for a fifth consecutive year at the NCAA Championships.

Texas ranked fifth in the preseason college tennis team poll released Tuesday, Jan. 4 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), and the Longhorns commanded five additional slots in the preseason singles and doubles rankings.

Senior Ed Corrie and junior Jean Andersen ranked fifth in the ITA preseason doubles rankings after qualifying for the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships last fall.  Sophomores Ben Chen and Daniel Whitehead boasted a No. 15 ITA preseason doubles ranking after producing a stellar fall season together.  Senior Kellen Damico and redshirt freshman David Holiner held a No. 25 ITA doubles ranking.

Damico and the aforementioned Corrie earned doubles All-America honors as freshmen in 2008.
Sophomore Vasko Mladenov, the 2010 ITA Texas Region Rookie Player of the Year, ranked No. 78 in singles.  Sophomore Ben Chen, who clinched the first three Texas victories this season, ranked 100th nationally in singles.

UT welcomes the aforementioned Holiner, Purdue transfer Thomas Wilson and freshman Sudanwa Sitaram for the 2010-11 season.