Tennis teams extend decade of dominance

Another year, another banner for the Baylor men's and women's tennis programs, as the men reached the Elite Eight for the ninth straight season and the women made the Final Four for the second time in four years.

Head coach Joey Scrivano's Lady Bears claimed their eighth consecutive Big 12 regular season title and sixth straight Big 12 tournament championship in 2011 and entered the NCAA tournament as the nation's No. 5 seed. Wins over UT-Arlington, No. 24 Oklahoma, No. 32 SMU and No. 4 North Carolina carried Baylor into the Final Four, where the Lady Bears fell to No. 1-ranked Stanford, the tournament's top seed and the host school for the final rounds. The Baylor women finished the season 29-4, the third-most wins in program history.

On the men's side, head coach Matt Knoll's Bears won their ninth Big 12 regular season championship in 10 years and finished the year ranked No. 6 nationally. The men advanced to the Elite Eight for the ninth year in a row before being bounced by No. 4 seed Ohio State, finishing with a 22-5 record on the year.

Both the men and women's squads featured Big 12 Newcomer of the Year award recipients: senior John Peers for the men, and junior Sona Novakova for the women. Three Bears (Peers, sophomore Roberto Maytin and senior Jordan Rux) and four Lady Bears (Novakova, juniors Diana Nakic and Nina Secerbegovic and senior Karolina Filipiak) earned All-Big 12 honors.

Peers and Maytin added all-America status after reaching the NCAA doubles quarterfinals, while Secerbegovic was so honored for making it through to the NCAA singles quarterfinals.

In the last decade, Baylor men's and 
women's tennis teams have combined for:

• 17 Big 12 regular season titles (M 9, W 8)
• 13 Big 12 tournament titles (M 7, W 6)
• 9 Big 12 lilayers of the Year (M 4, W 5)
• 8 Big 12 Coaches of the Year (M 5, W 3)
• 30 All-Americans (M 20, W 10)
• 3 NCAA singles titles (M 2, W 1)
• 18 NCAA aliliearances (M 10, W 8)
• 17 NCAA Sweet 16s (M 10, W 7)
• 6 NCAA Final Fours (M 4, W 2)
• 1 NCAA national chamliionshili (M 1)