Another big match tonight in the Big 12 though technically they’re all big matches since all 6 teams are ranked inside the top 30.  I think the doubles point will play a big role in deciding the winner because I’m looking for many of the Texas seniors to rise to the occasion tonight on Senior Day.

Baylor is running its blog for the match, even though it’s in Austin, so make sure you log on and contribute your comments to Kim Gorum.  The BU blog always gives you some inside information that you wouldn’t find elsewhere so make sure follow from start to finish.  Kim told us about the 2 overrules on the 2 match points in the Tchoutakian/Webb match and in the Oklahoma State match he mentioned that there’s a good chance that Baylor will be getting new a new streaming video system through Playsight in time for the NCAAs since the current cameras don’t have the best clarity and seem to freeze up too frequently.  He said the deal with Playsight isn’t a done deal yet but there’s been talks between the two.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed so we can watch the NCAAs with the same clarity that we’ve seen at Virginia Tech, the National Indoors, and the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge.

#2 Baylor (18-4) at #10 Texas (18-3) – 6pm est/5pm cst – Live Scoring & Baylor Blog – This will be the final home match for 4 of Texas’s starters with Soren Hess-Olesen, Lloyd Glasspool, Adrien Berkowicz, and Clement Homs all set to depart after this year.  Texas definitely leads the overall series (79-20-1 according to UT & 40-19 according to BU) but Baylor has been the dominant team recently winning 4 straight in the series and 16 of the last 19.  This will only be Baylor’s 4th road match this year and first road match played outdoors.  Temperature at match time should be right around 80 with close to 50% humidity.  

1. #2 Julian Lenz (BU 14.78) vs. #5 Soren Hess-Olesen (TX 14.95)

2. #30 Tony Lupieri (BU 14.13) vs. #48 Lloyd Glasspool (TX 13.93)

3. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU 14.34) vs. #49 Adrien Berkowicz (TX 13.98)

4. Diego Galeano (BU 13.62) vs. George Goldhoff (TX 13.69)

5. #112 Mate Zsiga (BU 13.89) vs. Nick Naumann (TX 13.77)

6. Felipe Rios (BU 13.83) vs. Clement Homs (TX 13.13)

FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of April 15th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

1. Lenz 11-3 vs. Hess-Olesen 16-2

2. Lupieri 9-6 vs. Glasspool 10-3

3. Tchoutakian 13-6 vs. Berkowicz 15-3

4. Galeano 8-4 vs. Goldhoff 5-4

5. Zsiga 9-2 vs. Naumann 9-7

6. Rios 14-2 vs. Homs 6-0

Others: Vince Schneider (BU) 10-3, John Mee (TX) 7-4

#1 singles – Lenz had a 4 match winning streak snapped by Oklahoma’s Axel Alvarez and it looked like he was headed for a 3rd set against Oklahoma State’s Jakob Sude when BU clinched.  Hess-Olesen had his 15-match winning streak snapped 2 weeks ago but has since rebounded with blowout win over TT’s #33 Felipe Soares and he also led UTSA’s #82 Tomas Stillman in a match that didn’t finish.  It’s surprising that this will be the 1st meeting between these two but Lenz has played at #2 in each of the last 2 years against UT.  This match alone should be worth the price of admission (yeah I know it’s free but you get I’m saying).   Prediction: Hess-Olesen (TX) in 3

#2 singles – Lupieri has split his last 6 matches with each of the losses versus top 25 players though he was up 2-0 in the 3rd against Oklahoma State’s #114 Lucas Gerch when the match was halted. Glasspool had a 9-match winning streak stopped 2 weeks ago when he fell 7-6 in the 3rd to Lucas Gerch and then got roughed up by Axel Alvarez 6-1, 6-2.  2 of Lloyd’s last 3 matches have gone unfinished though he sandwiched a win over UTSA’s Yannick Junger in between.  Glasspool won the only H2H against Lupieri 6-3, 6-2 back in October 2013.  I have a hard time seeing Glasspool dropping his final regular season match at home.  Prediction: Glasspool (TX) in 2

#3 singles – Tchoutakian has won 9 of his last 11 after splitting last weekend with a win over Okie St’s Arjun Kadhe which followed up the tough heartbreaker against OU’s Dane Webb.  Berkowicz has won 4 in a row and they’ve all been against quality opposition (Hunter Callahan, Arjun Kadhe, Dane Webb, Alex Sendegeya). Prediction: Berkowicz (TX) in 3

#4 singles – Galeano had a 5-match winning streak (against lighter competition) stopped by OU’s Alex Ghilea but Diego rallied on Sunday to beat Okie St’s Lukas Finzelberg in straight sets. Goldhoff has won 3 straight (against lighter competition) with 4 unfinished matches sprinkled in between. Both have dealt with some injuries this year but I think Galeano’s experience pays off in this one. Prediction: Galeano (BU) in 2

#5 singles – Zsiga hasn’t lost in almost 2 months going 7-0 with an additional 5 matches not finishing (was leading in all 5).  Naumann has won 2 straight after dropping the previous 4.  One guy has been steady while the other has been streaky – I’ll take stable.  Prediction: Zsiga (BU) in 3

#6 singles – Rios has won 4 straight and 14 of 15 and he avenged the 1 loss in the streak to Oklahoma’s Florin Bragusi.  Rios has been one of the most dominant #6’s in the country this year winning 22 of 38 sets 6-2 or better.  Homs is 6-0 with quality wins over Kevin Metka and Nicolai Ferrigno.  Prediction: Rios (BU) in 3

There hasn’t been a better team at doubles than Baylor and I’d be surprised to see the Bears drop the point against a Texas team that is just above .500.  Of course I said the same thing about the doubles point in the TCU/Texas A&M match.  TCU was 12-10 in doubles and Texas A&M 18-3 and TCU won the doubles point then cruised to a 4-0 win.  If Texas takes the point I think they very well could win going away like 4-1 or 4-2 so this is a big point for both teams. Having said all that I’m still going with Baylor in doubles.

The only singles matches that I see finishing in straight sets are at 2 and 4 with all others going the distance.  I see Texas sweeping the top 3 and Baylor taking the bottom 3.  I wanted to go with Texas in this one due it being at home but the numbers just don’t add up for me.  Prediction: Baylor 4-3