Daily Bears Report 2/4/17 - Recruiting Interviews

Today’s Events

• Men's Basketball, vs Kansas State, 2:00 PM, Listen, Watch
• Women's Basketball, at Texas Tech, 2:00 PM, Listen, Watch
• Women's Equestrian, vs Oklahoma State, 11:00 AM
• Women's Tennis, vs Oregon, 1:00 PM
• Track, vs Texas A&M Charlie Thomas Invitational, All Day

Tennis

Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

Scandall Fallout

Baylor Bruins Recruiting Hostess Squad Sounds Off

Equestrian is No. 1

Baylor equestrian (8-2, 2-1 Big 12) moved into the nation’s top ranking, passing Texas A&M after a strong open to the spring schedule, announced as the first rankings of spring 2017 by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) on Tuesday evening. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Bears took the top spot in the poll, placing as the No. 1 team for the fourth time in a total of 11 weekly polls since the NCEA was formed in 2012.

Since dropping a tight 12-8 loss at Oklahoma State on Oct. 22, the BU squad has rattled off five straight wins, including wins over No. 5 SMU, No. 7 Georgia, and a pair of wins over No. 10 TCU.

The Bears get a rematch with the Cowgirls on Saturday, Feb. 4, in Waco, putting a 25-meet home winning streak on the line against the No. 4 OSU team.

BU then travels to Fresno to face No. 5 SMU and No. 6 Fresno State, before closing the regular season hosting No. 3 Auburn on March 3.

The Bears stay home for postseason play, hosting both the Big 12 Championship (Mar. 24-25) and the NCEA National Championship (Apr. 12-15) in Waco.

Track and Field

The Baylor track and field team had four multi-event athletes in action at the Charlie Thomas Invitational Friday at Gilliam Indoor Track & Field Stadium. From Baylor Bears dot com.

In the pentathlon, senior Jenna Pfeiffer placed second with 3,578 points, while Carly Grandcolas was fourth with 3,335 points. Meanwhile in the heptathlon through four events, freshman Luke Littlefield is third (2,892 pts.) and junior Hunter Powell sits ninth with 2,486 points.

Pfeiffer’s day was highlighted by the second-fastest 800-meter time in the competition (2:21.28), but her overall point total was lower than her PR tally at last month’s Rod McCravy Memorial (3,932).

Grandcolas, competing in her first meet of 2017, used a personal-best high jump of 5-5.25 [1.66m] to nearly equal her PR point total in the pentathlon (3,338).

Littlefield produced season-best marks in all four events contested on the opening day. He ran a 7.18 in the 60-meter dash, cleared 6-4.75 [1.95m] in the high jump, jumped 21-6.75 [6.57m] in the long jump and threw 39-1.75 [11.93m] in the shot put.

Powell, who was competing in his first heptathlon competition at BU, had his highest finish in the 60-meter dash as he placed fourth in 7.16.

Former Baylor multi-athlete and current volunteer assistant coach Henry Vildasola sits in fourth in the heptathlon competition with 2,875 points. He had the best shot put in the competition at 44-10.75 [13.68m].

The heptathlon competition will resume at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The rest of Saturday’s action is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. with field and running events. Running event finals begin at 2 p.m.

To stay current on all things Baylor Track, follow the team on Twitter: @BaylorTrack.

Tennis

The Baylor men’s tennis team rolled to a 6-1 victory over Lamar in a Friday night neutral site contest at the Downtown Club at the Met. From Baylor Bears dot com.

In doubles play, Will Little and Johannes Schretter opened the match with a 6-1 victory over Jusso Laitinen and Logan Powell at the No. 3 spot. BU’s No. 2 pairing of Jimmy Bendeck and Juan Benitez followed up that success with a 6-3 triumph over Sebastian Santibanez and Michael Feucht to clinch the doubles point.

Lamar got its lone point of the day to open singles as Bjoern Petersen retired from his match with an injury, after losing the first set to Santibanez at the No. 4 spot.

Meanwhile on the other five courts, the Bears cruised to five straight-set victories.

First, Constantin Frantzen picked up his fifth-consecutive win by downing Laitinen, 6-1, 6-2, at the bottom of the lineup. Little put Baylor up 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Benny Schweizer on court five. Benitez provided the clinching point with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Feucht at the top of the order.

With the match in hand, the 81st-ranked Bendeck bested Jeandre Hoogenboezem, 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 3 spot and Schretter won for the fifth-straight time as well, 6-3, 6-1, on court two.

Baylor is now 5-0 on the season and Lamar is 3-3. The Bears have won eight-straight matches over Lamar and lead the all-time series 9-4. BU has started three of the last four seasons at least 5-0.

“We played a good match. Bjoern had to retire due to injury, but everyone else went out and executed well.” - head coach Matt Knoll on the match.

The Bears will now remain in Houston to take on 20th-ranked Texas A&M at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Met.