By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Although it came in the first hour of a three-plus-hour match, the doubles point proved critical in Sunday's NCAA second-round matchup at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
 
Baylor coach Michael Woodson said the 19^th-ranked Bears "were just not brave enough," dropping the doubles point with losses at Nos. 1 and 2 and ultimately falling to the 16^th-seeded and 18^th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 4-3, in a heartbreaker.
 
"In these situations, you've got to come out ready to go in doubles," said Woodson, whose team ended the season at 23-11, "and I thought we were just not brave enough. Doubles is not a strength of theirs, and it is of ours. It's disappointing to get down on 1 and 2 like we did. At the end of the day, when two great teams like this play against each other, a lot of times that doubles point could make the difference. And we saw that.
 
"They caught the breaks in the big moments, and we didn't. But I was proud of the guys and thought they fought hard and left everything out there. I wouldn't want to be working with anybody else."
 
A&M (18-10), advancing to the super regional round to face top-seeded Wake Forest, got the opening point on the board with dominating wins at Nos. 1 and 2. The Aggies' fourth-ranked duo of Theo Papamalamis and Togan Tokac got up a break early and cruised to a 6-1 win over the 27^th-ranked tandem of Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Marko Miladinovic.
 
Baylor's No. 3 team of Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita was up 5-4, but A&M clinched the doubles point when Alan Magadan and Tiago Pires made an early service break hold up in a 6-3 upset of the Bears' Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig on Court 2.
 
Already down 1-0, things looked bleak for the Bears when they dropped four of the six first sets in singles, the lone exceptions being Chirita and Koenig at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively. Chirita won a marathon first-set tiebreaker, 11-9, in a pivotal point in the match.
 
A&M went up 2-0 when Damien Salvestre got a service break in the last game to close out a 6-2, 6-4 win over Miladinovic at No. 6 singles.
 
"I think the guy at 6 is playing a little bit too low," Woodson said of Salvestre, who picked up his first dual-match win of the season after sitting out the last 2 ½ months. "He hasn't show up for months. I thought Marko gave himself a chance in the second and let the momentum slip a little bit."
 
In a reversal, the Bears won four of the six second sets, with Badenhorst and Brostrom Poulsen splitting sets at Nos. 1 and 3, respectively.
 
Beating Tokac, who was undefeated in SEC play at 8-0, Koenig got Baylor's first point on the board with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5, sealing it with a passing shot down the line. Following suit, Chirita closed out the Aggies' Luke Casper, 7-6(9), 6-4, at No. 4 to knot the match at 2-2.
 
"We won at some of the toughest spots," Woodson said. "The guy at 5 was undefeated in SEC play, and the guy at 3 probably had their second-best record. And Alex beats everybody, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he won."
 
Velcz, who had an impressive straight-set win over 69^th-ranked Calvin Mueller the day before to help the Bears knock off Nebraska, 4-1, got broken twice in the last three games in a 7-5, 7-5 loss to the 85^th-ranked Magadan at No. 2.
 
"He's a guy that we just expect to have great success and to not fail in these tough situations," Woodson said of Velcz, who lost two of his last three after an 11-match winning streak. "He didn't play at the level that he would have liked to have played today. . . . But (Magadan) is used to the conditions, and he didn't back down. I have to give that guy credit. He came up with some stuff that really shook Z, and it definitely hurt."
 
Brostrom Poulsen bounced back from a first-set loss to dominate Pires in the second, 6-0, and then jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third. Pires won three games in a row to get back on serve but double-faulted twice in the final game to fall, 3-6, 6-0, 7-5, at No. 3.
 
"He really just made an incredible mark on this program over the last couple of years," Woodson said of the Middle Tennessee transfer, "and he's never going to go away. He's going to find a way to be in the match, and he's going to usually get over the line, to be honest. He's done that for us all season, so it was no surprise to me that he would put himself in position to win and get the job done there. Really proud of him."
 
Knotted up again at 3-3, everything came down to a matchup of two of the best players in the country. The 33^rd-ranked Badenhorst overcame a tough stretch to pull out the second set, 6-4, and was up 1-0, 40-15 in the third, poised to be the Bears' closer.
 
But Papamalamis, the 31^st-ranked A&M freshman, won three-straight points to break serve and didn't drop another game in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win that clinched it for the Aggies.
 
"He's never been in that position, actually," Woodson said of Badenhorst. "The other guy is a different style of player. That guy's hoping you beat yourself, versus Devin, who's an aggressive player. I think Dev was pretty fatigued by the end, probably emotionally and mentally as much as anything, just with everything that he's gone through. It takes a big toll on you, and he gave himself a chance. Battled all the way through, but it just wasn't enough at the end."




COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, the No. 19 Baylor men's tennis team nearly completed a comeback but couldn't hold on to end its season at the Mitchell D. Case Tennis Center on Sunday and losing to No. 18 Texas A&M 4-3.
 
After dropping the doubles point, the Bears won singles matches on Court Three, Four and Five but with the match coming down to Court One, they couldn't claim the last point to end its 2024-25 season with a record of 23-11.
 
THE RUNDOWN
In doubles, the fast-paced duo of Alexandru Chirita and Zsombor Velcz put the Bears ahead on Court Three with an early 3-0 lead. On Courts One and Two, BU fell at the midway point by three games.
 
With a 4-0 lead, the Aggies began fighting back against Chirita and Velcz, gaining at 4-3. On Court Two, Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig also began the climb back from a 3-0 deficit, putting themselves at 4-2.
 
The 27^th-ranked pair of Oskar Brostrøm Poulsen and Marko Miladinovic fell to the No. 4 top nationally ranked Aggie duo of Papamalamis and Tokac 6-1 on Court One.
 
On Court Three, the Aggies took advantage of serving and tied the match at 4-4 but the Bears responded taking back the lead at 5-4. On Court Two, the South African duo kept chipping away at 5-3, but the Bears couldn't hold, falling 6-3 for the Aggies to take the doubles point.
 
Moving to singles, Texas A&M took the lead on all courts, but Brostrøm Poulsen on Court Three was the first break, going up 2-1. Koenig was right behind him, earning a break on Court Five 2-1.
 
Velcz on Court Two earned a big break in straight points to put him in striking distance with 3-2 deficit. Next to him on Court Four, Chirita took a 4-3 lead after breaking his Aggie opponent.
 
Koenig continued his climb, going up 4-1 on his lead in the first set. Meanwhile on Court One, 33^rd-ranked Badenhorst was in a back-and-forth battle with No. 31 Papamalamis, going down 3-2 at the midway point in the first set.
 
Miladinovic, 6-2, and Brostrøm Poulsen, 6-3, both dropped the first sets to the Aggies. Chirita on Court Four forced a tiebreaker by holding his serve, while Velcz tied his match 5-5 by holding. In a grueling back and forth tie breaker, Chirita was able to pull out the win in the first set at 7-6(9). Koenig also won his first set 6-4 to help the Bears carry momentum in the second.
 
While the others ended the first set, Brostrøm Poulsen made quick work and responded to his first set loss with a 4-0 lead in the second. Likewise, Miladinovic held a tied 3-3 second set. Badenhorst took a 3-0 lead in his second.
 
Brostrøm Poulsen would go on to absolutely dominate the second set, winning 3-6, 6-0 and force a third.
 
Miladinovic fell 6-2, 6-4 in the second for Texas A&M to take a 2-0 lead. Koenig minutes later took his match in straight sets on Five 6-4, 6-2 against Texas A&M's Tokac to make the score 2-1 overall.
 
The final four courts remaining were One through Four, all within striking distance of their opponents and in tight contents. Chirita on Court Four was next match to wrap as the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year earned his 17^th win of the year 7-6(9), 6-4 and the Bears were tied back up with the Aggies.
 
After Velcz held his serve to make the second set in his favor at 5-4, A&M's 85^th ranked Magadan rallied back and took the match 7-5, 7-5 to put A&M back up 3-2.
 
From there, the senior of Brostrom Poulsen on Court Three showed true fight, breaking the serve and extending his lead 3-6, 6-0, 4-2. The Aggie held off four match points on Three and extended the set. However, the Bear earned his final victory in his collegiate career in true grit fashion at 3-6, 6-0, 7-5. With the match tied at 3-3, it all came down to Court One in the third set.
 
Badenhorst, facing the pressure for the first time this season, couldn't hold off the momentum from the Aggie environment and fell 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to close out the 2024-25 season.
 
BOX SCORE
#18 Texas A&M 4, #19 Baylor 3
 
DOUBLES
#4 Togan Tokac/Theo Papamalamis (A&M) def. #27 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen/Marko Miladinovic (BU) - 6-1
Alan Magadan/Tiago Pires (A&M) def. #64 Devin Badenhorst/Luc Koening (BU) - 6-3
Giulio Perego/Ritesh Patil (A&M) vs. Zsombor Velcz/Alexandru Chirita (BU) - 4-5 - unfinished
Order of Finish - 1,2
 
SINGLES
#31 Theo Papamalamis (A&M) def. #33 Devin Badenhorst (BU) - 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
#85 Alan Magadan (A&M) def. #112 Zsombor Velcz (BU) -  7-5, 7-5
Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (BU) def. Tiago Pires (A&M) - 3-6, 6-0, 7-5
Alexandru Chirita (BU) def. Luke Casper (A&M) - 7-6(9), 6-4
Luc Koenig (BU) def. Togan Tokac (A&M) - 6-4, 6-2
Damien Salvestre (A&M) def. Marko Miladinovic (BU) - 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish - 6,5,4,2,3,1
 
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH MICHAEL WOODSON
On winning the tough points but falling in the end…
"Yeah, no, for sure. I would have told you we won it at some of their toughest spots. The guy at five was undefeated in SEC play. The guy at three, probably second-best record, I think. And, yeah, I mean, Alex beats everybody, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he won. So, I thought we really had an opportunity at the other spots. … But, you know, in these situations you gotta come out ready to go in doubles, and I thought we were just not brave enough. You know, doubles is not a strength of theirs, and it is of ours. So, it's disappointing to kind of get down on one and two like we did, and that hurt us. You know, at the end of the day, when two great teams like this play against each other, a lot of times that doubles point could make the difference. And we saw that.
 
We split two straight set singles matches. We split two, three set singles matches, and it comes down to the doubles. So credit to them. I mean, they played a heck of a lot better than they did yesterday and I thought they used the conditions and the crowd to their advantage. And, yeah, they caught the breaks in big moments, and we didn't. But at the end of the day, I was proud of the guys and thought they fought hard and left everything out there. I mean, yeah, wouldn't want to be working with anybody else."
 
On the deciding match point coming down to Badenhorst on Court One…
"Yeah, he's never been in that position, actually. That's hard, and I know he feels the pressure. He's young, you know, he's young. Credit to the other guy, different style of player, that guy's hoping you beat yourself. Versus Devin, who's an aggressive player. I think Dev was pretty fatigued by the end, from what it looked like, and probably emotionally and mentally as anything, just with everything that he's going through. It takes a big toll on you, and he gave himself a chance, battled all the way through, but it just wasn't rough at the end."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor is set to host the NCAA Team Championships final site from May 16-18.