No. 9 MT Drops 4-0 Decision to No. 8 North Carolina

Friday, February 15

Chicago, Ill.

9:00 a.m. CT

Baylor

North Carolina

No. 9 MT Drops 4-0 Decision to No. 8 North Carolina

2/15/2019 1:54:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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Bears fall in opening match of ITA National Team Indoors in Chicago

THE RUNDOWN
CHICAGO, Ill. – No. 9 and 10^th-seeded Baylor men's tennis (8-1) opened its run at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a 4-0 loss to eighth-ranked and No. 7 seed North Carolina Friday morning at Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago, Ill.

The Bears dropped to 23-23 all-time at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships and 0-4 against the Tar Heels in the all-time series.

The Bears' lone win on the day came when second-ranked Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah topped Benjamin Sigouin and Brian Cernoch at the top of the lineup. However, UNC got wins on courts two and three to take the doubles point.

Down 1-0 for the second time this season, the Bears couldn't recover and only picked up two opening sets in singles play. Bendeck went down 6-4, 6-0 to Mac Kiger in the No. 6 spot, followed by Sven Lah's 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Brian Cernoch on court four.

The Tar Heels clinched the match with Brian Boyden's 6-2, 7-6(4) win over Adrian Boitan at the No. 5 spot.

NOTABLES
• Baylor is now 23-23 all-time at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• Baylor went 0-3 in the bottom half of the lineup for the first time this season, previously going 21-0 at the No. 4-6 singles spots through its first eight matches.
• Three Bears dropped their first singles match of the dual-match season: Sven Lah, Adrian Boitan and Jimmy Bendeck.
• In doubles, Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah improved to 15-1 overall and 4-0 in dual matches this season.
• Baylor is now 7-2 in the doubles point and 1-1 when dropping the opening point this season.
• Baylor dropped to 0-4 all-time against the Tar Heels.

STAT OF THE MATCH
15 – the amount of overall doubles wins by second-ranked Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah.

TOP QUOTE
Head coach Brian Boland
On the loss...
"I am impressed with how well we competed today as a team. Every team here is extremely talented and playing matches like these are exactly what we need in order to reach our potential as the season rolls on. Our players learned a lot of valuable lessons and gained experience that will serve the team well going forward."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears return to action at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a consolation match against No. 2 seed and third-ranked Mississippi State Saturday at 9 a.m. CT at Midtown Athletic Club.