Best Teams Not To Win A Natty In The Last 10 Years: 2005 Baylor Bears

After seeing that Connor Smith was up to 200 in the latest ATP rankings that got me thinking about how Ohio State didn't win a national championship the year he played at #6 singles or for that matter the year he played at #3.  Then I started thinking about some of the other teams that were seemingly loaded but came up short when it mattered the most. So I decided to go back through the last 10 years and pick out those teams the many considered favorites and replay the moment where their season came to an end.

I'll start off with the 2004-05 season and this is a pretty obvious one.  The Matt Knoll coached Baylor Bears were the defending national champs and they were ranked #1 all season long in every poll released except for the last one.

Baylor came into the Championship match against UCLA riding a 57-match winning streak and the Bears were led at #1 and #2 singles by a pair of seniors, Benedikt Dorsch and Benjamin Becker, who would both go on to have success at the professional level.  Baylor was 33-0 on the year and had shutout UCLA the previous year in the NCAA Finals so they had to be feeling pretty confident coming into the match.

Baylor would jump out to an early 1-0 lead by cruising to the doubles point but UCLA answered with a straight set win at #2 as Benjamin Kohlloefel knocked off Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-2. Baylor responded with straight wins at #1 and #4 as Benedikt Dorsch beat Luben Pampoulov 6-1, 6-4 at #1 and Michal Kokta beat Chris Lam 6-4, 6-3 at #4. Baylor was now up 3-1 and would need just 1 of the final 3 courts but UCLA would take all 3.

Alberto Francis pulled away in the 3rd set for a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win at #5 over Matija Zgaga. Phillip Gruendler was 2 points away from losing at #6 when he served at 5-6 in the 3rd but he held to force the tiebreak. Gruendler jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak and ultimately took it 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) which tied the match at 3-3.  It all came down to #3 singles and after dropping the 1st set UCLA's Kris Kwinta would take the 2nd set and then jump out to a 3-1 lead in the 3rd.  Kwinta would hold serve 3 more times and close out the Bruins first championship since 1984 with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

#7 UCLA (27-3) def. #1 Baylor (33-1), 4-3 

May 24, 2005 - College Station, TX

Doubles (Order of Finish: 2,3)

1. #2 Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) vs. #19 Francis/Kwinta (UCLA) 7-4 DNF

2. Kokta/Poerschke (BU) def. #58 Gruendler/Kohlloeffel (UCLA) 8-5

3. Becker/Jon Reckewey (BU) vs. Lam/Pampoulov (UCLA) 8-4

Singles (Order of Finish: 2,1,4,5,6,3)

1. #2 Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. #7 Luben Pampoulov (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4

2. #11 Benjamin Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. #18 Benjamin Becker (BU) 6-4, 6-2

3. #60 Kris Kwinta (UCLA) def. #50 Lars Poerschke (BU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

4. #106 Michal Kokta (BU) def. Chris Lam (UCLA) 6-4, 6-3

5. #109 Alberto Francis (UCLA) def. Matija Zgaga (BU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
6. #85 Philipp Gruendler (UCLA) def. Vladimir Portnov (BU) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)

Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second consecutive year (despite Baylor losing) and he would go on to win the NCAA Singles Championship a week later.

Other interesting notes: Ivor Lovrak transferred to Pepperdine after Baylor's 2004 National Title season. Lovrak went 20-3 in dual match play, mostly at #6, during that 2003-04 season and finished the season on a 13-match winning streak. Lovrak also went 16-2 in doubles with Reiner Neurohr playing at #3. Lovrak's Pepperdine team would lose 4-0 to Baylor in the NCAA Quarters in this 2005 season but Lovrak helped lead Pepperdine to its only National Title the following season.

High ITF Junior Ranking
Dorsch - didn't play ITF events
Becker - 199
Poerschke - 60
Kokta - 8
Zgaga - 26
Portnov - 120
Ward - 53 (didn't play in 05 season)

Career Pro Highlights:

• Benjamin Becker: high ATP ranking of 35 (10/27/14), current singles ranking of 43, 14 singles titles (1 ATP 250, 9 Challengers, 4 Futures), 2 doubles titles (both futures), been ranked inside the top 100 - 7 of the last 9 years, beat Andre Agassi at 2006 US Open in what would turn out to be Agassi's final match.
• Benedikt Dorsch: high ATP ranking of 127 (5/25/09), 5 singles titles (2 Challenger/3 Futures), 3 doubles titles (2 Challenger/1 Future), finished the year inside the top 300 for 5 straight years (2005-2009)
• Lars Poerschke: high ATP ranking of 277 (11/30/09), 4 singles titles (all futures), 6 doubles titles (all futures)

Michal Kokta, Matija Zgaga, and Vladimir Portnov didn't play professionally after college though they all gave it a go before attending BU. Kokta peaked at 356, Zgaga 743, and Portnov 1144


Next up I'll look at team that slipped up at the end of the 2005-06 season and that one will be just as obvious as Baylor was in 2004-05.