WACO, Texas- Ninth-seeded and 10th-ranked Baylor edged Texas A&M, 4-2, in NCAA men’s tennis second-round action held Sunday afternoon at the Baylor Tennis Center.

The Aggies (13-12) used a late rally in singles to try to hold off Baylor’s advancement to the Round of 16 for the second-straight year. A&M didn’t make it easy for the hosting Bears (24-8) as junior Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) and freshman Wil Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) held court at the No. 1 and No. 3 lines for the Aggies.

A&M had to make up some ground after dropping the doubles point for the first time this season against the Bears. In a regular-season dual match played on April 2 in College Station, the Aggies swept all three doubles matches for their lone point in a 6-1 loss to BU.

Spencer, playing in only his second NCAA match, quickly tied the score at one-all with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set victory over Baylor’s David Galic at No. 3. He moved to 13-11 in dual matches this season which ranked as the third-best singles record on the team.

Pollock, ranked 25th nationally in the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, later followed with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) upset of eighth-ranked Lars Poerschke at No. 1 to give A&M a 2-1 advantage. It marked a career-best victory over the highest-ranked opponent of his career in the spring season.

“It was important for me to gain some confidence leading into NCAAs,” said Pollock on his win at No. 1 and his upcoming first-time appearance in the NCAA Singles Championships. “This last week of training has really given me a lot more confidence and allowed me to play well in today’s match. Overall, it was one of my most complete matches of the year.”

Pollock previously upended then second-ranked Steven Moneke of Ohio State at the prestigious ITA Indoors this past fall. He dominated in the second-set tiebreaker winning the first six points and later held off a comeback by Poerschke, 7-5. Pollock will compete at the 2008 NCAA Singles Championships on May 21-26 in Tulsa, Okla.

“Conor has played well all year,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “I’ve been very proud of his leadership this season. He’s a really good tennis player and I knew that he was going to play well today. I felt the same way about Wil. I could just tell by his demeanor before the match that he would have a good result today. He went out there and really took it to (Baylor’s) David Galic. I was really proud of him, especially as a freshman playing in this kind of environment showing a lot of character and fight.”

Fight was the main theme of the day as A&M came out strong in doubles, but lost momentum to the Bears who had to earn each point from the Aggies who kept each game tight. BU would go on to win the No. 2 and No. 3 lines to seal the doubles point heading into singles play.

“I was really proud of the way the guys fought,” said Denton whose Aggies lost 4-0 to Baylor in last year’s NCAA Second Round match in Waco. “We have closed the gap on this Baylor team considerably and we are just going to get better from here. We got a lot better as the season went on. I was a little disappointed in our doubles. I felt that we had a game plan, but we weren’t quite able to execute that game plan in a couple of the doubles matches. That was really the difference in the match.”

Baylor’s Attila Bucko clinched the match for the Bears with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over A&M’s Matt Bain at No. 5.

“This (Baylor) team was too good for us to win four singles matches against them, so we needed to win the doubles point,” Denton said. “It would have put us in a little different position. On the other hand, our guys put themselves in a position to stay in these matches against a very talented team. Give Baylor credit. They played well and they played better this time around in the doubles.”

Pollock and freshman doubles partner Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.), ranked 20th nationally, will also head to the NCAA Championships in Tulsa in the next two weeks to compete among the 32-team doubles tournament field.

“It has been a really long year with ups and downs,” Pollock said. “Over the past few months and past few weeks, we have really come together as a team. It has translated on the court. Everyone played well today and had a chance to win their match. If we had won the doubles, it would have made it a little easier for us. I’m really proud of the guys and how hard we fought. I had a great year playing with them.”

(10) BAYLOR 4, (25) TEXAS A&M 2

2008 NCAA Second Round

May 11, 2008

Baylor Tennis Center

at Waco, Texas

SINGLES

No. 1 - (25) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. (8) Lars Poerschke (Baylor), 6-1, 7-6 (5).

No. 2 - (9) Denes Lukacs (Baylor) def. Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), 6-1, 6-3.

No. 3 - Wil Spencer (Texas A&M) def. David Galic (Baylor), 6-3, 6-2.

No. 4 - Chris Chirico (Texas A&M) vs. Dominik Mueller (Baylor), DNF.

No. 5 - Attila Bucko (Baylor) def. Matt Bain (Texas A&M), 6-3, 6-4.

No. 6 - Jordan Rux (Baylor) def. Mike Beatty (Texas A&M), 6-3, 6-4.

DOUBLES

No. 1 - (20) Krajicek-Pollock (Texas A&M) vs. Galic-Lukacs (Baylor), DNF.

No. 2 - Poerschke-Bucko (Baylor) def. Beatty-Spencer (Texas A&M), 8-4.

No. 3 - Mueller-Rux (Baylor) def. Bain-Chirico (Texas A&M), 8-5.

ORDER OF FINISH

Doubles: 2, 3

Singles: 3, 1, 6, 2, 5*