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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team will head into familiar territory when the 55th-ranked Boilermakers visit the Hurd Tennis Center in to take on No. 5 Baylor (6-2, 0-0 Big 12) Friday. First serves from Waco, Texas, are set for 4 p.m. ET.
The Old Gold & Black returns to the alma mater of head coach Pawel Gajdzik (2000) and assistant coach Michal Kokta (2007) for a fourth time in five meetings since 2011.
Purdue (2-5, 0-1 B1G) enters its fifth road dual match of the season on the heels of a 5-2 loss at DePaul on Feb. 13. Diego Acosta and Ricky Medinilla were credited with the two team points via singles victories. Acosta, who moved up to the No. 1 position, used a 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (7) match to defeat Sten Leusink. The senior improved to 4-1 in his final campaign while winning his second-straight match.
Playing at No. 2 for the first time this season, Medinilla was able to bring his three-match losing streak to an end by taking a three-setter from David Vieyra, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. With the win, the 122nd-ranked sophomore evened his record at 3-3.
Baylor returns to the Hurd Tennis Center for its first home dual match since Jan. 29. The Bears are coming off of a 2-1 showing at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, falling in the semifinals to then-No. 2 Oklahoma, 4-2, on Feb. 15. They advanced to the semifinals by knocking off then-No. 6 Duke (4-1) and then-No. 3 Virginia (4-3) on Feb. 13 and 14, respectively.
BU is led by 10th-ranked Julian Lenz, who is 4-1 on the season. Baylor has two other ranked players on the singles side with Tony Lupieri and Max Tchoutakian listed at No. 27 and 67, respectively in the latest ITA rankings (Feb. 10). The Bears also have two ranked doubles teams with Lupieri joining Felipe Rios to be ranked 19th, while Lupieri and Zsiga are listed as the country's 40th-best duo.