THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 6 Baylor men's tennis (17-2) battled back from an early deficit and used five singles wins to put away No. 35 Arizona State (6-9) Friday night at the Hurd Tennis Center.

Baylor is now 26-1 in its last 27 home matches, but it was the first time this season the Bears had to battle from behind after dropping the doubles point.

Constantin Frantzen and Johannes Schretter struck first on court three when they took down Justin Roberts and Benjamin Hannestad, 6-2. However, top-ranked Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah couldn't dig themselves out of an early hole to fall 6-3 to No. 18 Nathan Ponwith and Dominik Kellovsky.

Trailing 4-2, the duo of Will Little and Matias Soto battled back to tie it at 5-5 but ultimately fell 7-5 to 56^th-ranked Tim Ruehl and Andrea Bolla at the No. 2 spot to give Arizona State the 1-0 advantage.

The Bears came storming back in singles action and took five of six opening sets. Bendeck got Baylor on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Benjamin Hannestad at the No. 6 spot, followed by Adrian Boitan's 6-1, 6-1 win against Andrea Bolla on court four.

45^th-ranked Matias Soto made it a 3-1 Baylor lead after he took care of Dominik Kellovsky at the No. 2 spot, winning 6-2, 6-3, but Will Little's 7-5, 6-1 loss to Justin Roberts on court three made it a 3-2 score.

40^th-ranked Schretter held off a late surge from No. 55 Nathan Ponwith and won the final three games to earn a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory at the top of the lineup to clinch the match.

Electing to play the final match out, Lah bested Tim Ruehl in three sets on court five, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

To keep up with things all season long, follow the team on social media: @BaylorMTennis.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor improves to 3-1 all-time against Arizona State.
• Baylor ties a season-best eight-match win streak and improves to 6-2 against ranked opponents this season.
• Baylor is now 26-1 in its last 27 home matches dating back to 2017.
• Baylor is now 15-4 in the doubles point and 2-2 when losing the opening point this season.
• No. 45 Matias Soto clinched a singles point for the fourth-straight match.
• Baylor is now 56-5 in singles and doubles points at home this season.
• Soto is now 14-2 in spring singles play.
• Jimmy Bendeck improves to 10-3 in dual-match singles action.
• Sven Lah is 15-1 in spring singles play and has won seven straight matches.
• Adrian Boitan is now 8-2 in singles action.
• Johannes Schretter and Constantin Frantzen are 3-0 as doubles partners this season.
• Johannes Schretter has tied a team-high five wins over ranked opponents this season.

STAT OF THE MATCH
5 – the number of singles matches the Bears won to clinch the match.

TOP QUOTE
Head coach Brian Boland
On the win…
"Well, I thought that Arizona State came out and really played some great doubles and really made it a big challenge for us. We've had so much success in the doubles point, (that) we are not used to starting out down 0-1. It was tough for the guys to manage that, and I think they did a really good job. Arizona's a good team. They certainly can compete with any team in the country and they showed that tonight. I'm proud of the guys, it wasn't easy. Again, I appreciate everyone coming out -- the crowd was great."

WHAT'S NEXT
With the non-conference slate in the books, the Bears focus on the Big 12 schedule. Baylor hosts No. 10 TCU in its Big 12 opener next Friday, March 29 at 6 p.m. CT at the Hurd Tennis Center. Fans will receive a free Baylor tennis t-shirt while supplies last.