Baylor Tennis Sweeps Big 12

The 2008 Baylor women's tennis team claimed its fourth straight Big 12 Conference regular season title with a perfect 11-0 run through the league, then followed that up with the squad's third Big 12 Tournament title in four years.
Meanwhile, Baylor men's tennis team overcame an injury that cost top player Lars Poerschke several matches to earn the program's seventh straight Big 12 regular season title, then--again playing without Poerschke--upset Texas to claim the Bears' fourth tournament championship in five years.
As a result, both the men and women earned the right to host first and second round matches in this year's NCAA Tournament--the third straight year Baylor has hosted on both the men's and women's side.
 

Lady Bears headed for best season ever
Making their 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 years, the Lady Bears entered the tournament as the No. 5 overall seed, led by ace senior Zuzana Zemenova. The native of Slovakia was unanimously named Big 12 Player of the Year for the fourth year in a row, the first time any Big 12 athlete in any sport has won the award four times. 
Baylor swept the league's top awards as Taylor Ormond was named Freshman of the Year, Jelena Stanivuk was tabbed Newcomer of the Year, and head coach Joey Scrivano was named Coach of the Year.
Zemenova, Ormond and Lenka Broosova were each selected for the 64-player NCAA Singles Championships, while Zemenova and Broosova will pair up for the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championships.
 

Men earn 11th straight NCAA bid
Head coach Matt Knoll's men earned the NCAA Tournament's No. 9 overall seed in this, the squad's 11th straight tournament appearance. 
Poerschke joined former Bear Benjamin Becker as the only Baylor men ever to earn four straight All-Big 12 singles honors. Sophomore Denes Lukacs also was named All-Big 12 in singles; he and junior David Galic earned All-Big 12 doubles honors, as well.
Poerschke and Lukacs also earned all-America honors with top-16 seedings for the NCAA Singles Championships. Poerschke will be making his fourth straight tournament appearance and earned his third All-America nod.

Editor's note: Both teams were beginning NCAA Tournament play as this issue went to press; for updates on their results, visit BaylorBears.com.