Baylor tennis dynasty opens 2015 season Sunday

The Baylor tennis dynasty begins its spring schedule in earnest this weekend, looking to continue a run that has seen the Bears and Lady Bears combine for 37 Big 12 trophies and 24 Sweet 16 appearances over the last 15 years.

The No. 15-ranked Baylor women open the season by hosting No. 5 Georgia on Sunday. Head coach Joey Scrivano’s team won both the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles a year ago — the seventh such sweep in program history — and advanced to the NCAA’s Sweet 16. This year’s Lady Bear lineup includes four ranked singles players, led by Blair Shankle (No. 49).

The men, too, are coming off a sweep of both the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles — the eighth time they’ve accomplished that feat. Head coach Matt Knoll’s squad, an NCAA Elite Eight team a year ago, will open the 2015 dual-match schedule next Wednesday by hosting Illinois. Ranked No. 6 in the nation to open the new year, the Bears’ lineup includes two of the nation’s top 30 singles players (No. 5 Julian Lenz and No. 26 Tony Lupieri) and the 13th-ranked doubles team of Lupieri and Felipe Rios.

The Bears and Lady Bears have together reached at least the Sweet 16 nine times in the last 10 years. Doing so again would land them right back in Waco, as Baylor’s Hurd Tennis Center will host the 2015 NCAA Tennis Championships (May 14-25) Playing for two national titles on our home courts? Can’t wait to see that!

Sic ’em, Baylor tennis!