WACO, Texas -- The 29th-ranked University of Texas men's tennis team saw its 2005 season come to a close with a 4-1 loss to top-ranked Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Championships on Saturday evening at the Baylor Tennis Center.
The Longhorns finish the year with a 13-10 dual-match record. The Bears (30-0) advance to the NCAA Round of 16 where they will face No. 16 seed Texas A&M on Saturday, May 21 in College Station, Texas.
UT got off to an impressive start by posting two major upsets in doubles. Sophomore Hubert Chodkiewicz (Corpus Christi, Texas) and junior Roger Gubser (Laredo, Texas) defeated the 54th-ranked duo of Lars Poerschke and Michal Kokta, 8-5, at the No. 2 position, before the 60th-ranked tandem of junior Callum Beale (Adelaide, Australia) and freshman Travis Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan.) outlasted the nation's second-ranked doubles team of Benedikt Dorsch and Matija Zgaga in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (2), at the top of the lineup. Baylor's lone doubles victory came at the No. 3 position where Benjamin Becker and Jon Reckewey topped freshman Luis Diaz Barriga (Cordoba, Mexico) and sophomore Garrett Snyder (Newport Beach, Calif.), 8-6.
UT looked to build on its 1-0 advantage headed into singles, but the Bears proved once again to be a tough opponent as they collected four consecutive singles victories in straight sets. Barriga, playing at No. 5, lost a 6-2, 6-1 decision to Zgaga and Chodkiewicz was defeated by Greg Shearer 6-1, 6-3 at the bottom of the lineup. No. 48-ranked Beale then recorded a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Dorsch, the nation's 2nd-ranked player, at the top singles spot. The match was clinched by Baylor at No. 2 singles where 18th-ranked Becker tallied a 6-2, 6-3 mark over 66th-ranked Helgeson.
The matches at Nos. 3 and 4 singles were suspended after the Bears secured the victory. Gubser was up 2-1 in the third set after splitting the first two sets with Poerschke at the third position and freshman Milan Mihailovic (Nis, Serbia) was down 7-5, 4-3 to Kokta at the fourth.
"We played as hard as we could play," Texas head coach Michael Center said. "We played with a lot of energy and I knew that in order to get our opportunity we would have to be very aggressive.
"In doubles, we made some good plays and got the point, so that was critical if we were going to have a chance tonight," Center continued. "Then in singles, to give up [court] five and [court] six and then have to try to beat basically the two best players in the country was too much."
The season will continue for Callum Beale and Travis Helgeson, who were selected to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship, held May 25-30 in College Station, Texas, following the conclusion of the team championship.
Singles (Order of finish: 5, 6, 1, 2)
1. Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. Callum Beale (UT) 6-2, 6-4
2. Benjamin Becker (BU) def. Travis Helgeson (UT) 6-2, 6-3
3. Lars Poerschke (BU) vs. Roger Gubser (UT) Did Not Finish
4. Michal Kokta (BU) vs. Milan Mihailovic (UT) Did Not Finish
5. Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) 6-2, 6-1
6. Greg Shearer (BU) def. Hubert Chodkiewicz (UT) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles (Order of finish: 2, 3, 1)
1. Beale/Helgeson (UT) def. Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) 9-8 (2)
2. Chodkiewicz/Gubser (UT) def. Poerschke/Kokta (BU) 8-5
3. Becker/Reckewey (BU) def. Barriga/Snyder (UT) 8-6
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