Bjork Scores Upset, But Bears Claim 6-1 Big 12 Win

WACO, Texas ? University of Colorado junior Peter Bjork claimed a win over a Top 50 singles opponent, but No. 6 Baylor University kept its hopes for a fifth straight Big 12 Conference regular season title alive by winning all but two sets from the No. 25 Buffaloes, claiming a 6-1 decision Friday night at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco.

Despite the setback, the Buffaloes (17-7) remain in prime position to equal their best Big 12 regular season finish since the league debuted in 1997. A win at No. 46 Texas Tech University on Sunday (12 p.m. MDT in Lubbock) would guarantee Colorado a share of third place in the final Big 12 regular season standings and would wrap up the No. 3 seed for next week’s league tournament in Waco as the Buffs would hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over No. 17 Texas A&M University.

Colorado and Texas A&M enter Sunday’s final day of Big 12 regular season competition with identical 4-2 league marks. The Aggies are at No. 4 University of Texas on Sunday afternoon.

Baylor, which won its 11^th straight match over Colorado, improved to 18-5 overall and is tied for first place in the Big 12 with Texas at 5-1 with a home match against the University of Nebraska remaining Sunday evening.

Playing at the No. 2 singles spot for the fifth straight match, Bjork swept No. 50 ranked Matija Zgaga 7-6 (9-7 in the tiebreaker), 6-3 for his first win over a Top 50 opponent in four tries this season. Bjork, who improves to 26-10 in singles play in 2005-06, also defeated Zgaga last season.

Baylor won the five remaining singles matches in straight sets.

Senior Marko Bundalo had a tight match with Baylor’s Will Ward at No. 4 singles. After Ward won the first set 6-4, Bundalo took a 6-5 lead in the second before dropping the last two games, 6-4 in the tiebreaker.

Baylor won all three doubles matches for the doubles point and did so in the narrowest of margins. CU’s No. 1 doubles team of Bundalo and junior Eric Molnar played toe-to-toe with Baylor’s No. 28 ranked team of Lars Poerschke and Michal Kokta, but the Bears’ duo claimed a 9-7 win. Zgaga and Matt Brown edged CU’s No. 2 doubles team of Chad Tsuda and Jan Zelezny, 8-6.

No. 6 Baylor 6, No. 25 Colorado 1

CU (17-7, 4-2 Big 12), BU (18-5, 5-1 Big 12)

April 21, Waco, Texas

1d) (28) Poerschke/Kokta (BU) def. Bundalo/Molnar 9-7

2d) Zgaga/Brown (BU) def. Tsuda/Zelezny 8-6

3d) Ward/David Galic (BU) def. Dvorak/Geoff Chizever 8-5

1s) (9) Lars Poerschke (BU) def. (63) Eric Molnar 6-1, 6-3

2s) Peter Bjork (CU) def. (50) Matija Zgaga 7-6(9), 6-3

3s) (41) Michal Kokta (BU) def. Jan Zelezny 6-1, 6-2

4s) Will Ward (BU) def. Marko Bundalo 6-4, 7-6(4)

5s) (115) Matt Brown (BU) def. Chad Tsuda 6-0, 6-4

6s) Vladi Portnov (BU) def. Marek Dvorak 6-2, 6-2