No. 5 MT Closes out Louisville in ITA Kick-Off Finale

Sunday, January 26

Waco, Texas

3:00 p.m. CT

Baylor

Louisville

No. 5 MT Closes out Louisville in ITA Kick-Off Finale

1/26/2020 6:40:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Baylor books a spot at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Sebastian Nothhaft just arrived on the Baylor campus two weeks ago as a first-semester freshman from China.
            But, with half the roster in the training room and the fifth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team teetering, Nothhaft rallied from a set down to beat Louisville's Clement Filho, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, and send the Bears (5-0) to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a 4-1 win over the Cardinals in Sunday's match at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
            "Really pleased to have Sebastian Nothhaft finish a match like that as a freshman," said Baylor coach Brian Boland, whose team improved to 5-0 for the year and 20-0 all-time in ITA Kickoff matches. "That's the kind of experiences we want him to have, and embrace that pressure situation. What I loved about it is he played to win. He didn't back off, he took it to him and played really aggressive and used his strengths all the way to the end."
            Baylor, which also won its 21^st-consecutive home match, punched its ticket for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 14-17 in Madison, Wis. Fifteen of the nation's top 20 teams advanced to the ITA Championships and will be joined by host Wisconsin.
            With four players returning from injuries, sophomore Adrian Boitan held out as a precaution for a knee injury he suffered last weekend and another player dealing with flu-like symptoms, Boland said "we needed everybody."
            "Our depth has paid off already this year," he said. "Everybody talks about how we have a lot of depth, but we needed everybody. We put on the court what we had. . . . But, I'm really excited to see these guys get opportunities to help the team, especially early in the season. When we get fully healthy, we're going to be a highly competitive team."
            Louisville (5-1) would beg to differ. The Cardinals, who already own a win over then-No. 10 Virginia, found a Baylor team that dominated the doubles and competed hard at all six singles spots.
            After Nothhaft and fellow freshman Finn Bass cruised to a 6-0 win at No. 3 doubles, the 20^th-ranked tandem of Constantin Frantzen and Sven Lah clinched the opening point with a 6-3 win at No. 1 over Sergio Hernandez and Fabien Salle.
            Singles were a different story, though, with Louisville winning the first set on four of the six courts.
            "I got a little bit distracted in the first set, started looking at the other courts and realizing that we were down on many courts, but realizing that someone has to take the initiative" said Nothhaft, who was playing in just his third collegiate match. "I just had to trust my shots, play a little bit smarter, be more patient. I tried to be more patient with myself. I was beating myself up in the first set."
            With three first sets already in the books, 42^nd-ranked Tim Chen won a first-set tiebreaker at No. 1 from 59^th-ranked Matias Soto, "that gave Louisville some hope," Boland said.
            That window got much smaller, though, when the 19^th-ranked Lah swept Hernandez, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 2 and Bass gave the Bears a 3-0 lead by beating David Mizrahi, 6-0, 7-5, at No. 4 singles.
            "Sven's playing really well," Boland said. "He's one of our guys that comes every day looking for every inch to get better. . . . (Bass) is a really challenging guy to play against, and he's also someone who I think embraces the moment. He seems to enjoy the arena. We expected that, but it's been great to see these guys in pressure situations."
            While Duke transfer Ryan Dickerson fell in straight sets to Salle at No. 3, 6-4, 6-4, Nothhaft, Soto and Frantzen all battled back to take their matches to third sets, needing just one more point to advance.
            Frantzen was on serve, leading Matthew Fung, 5-4, at No. 5, while Soto had just dropped the opening game of the third set to Chen, when Nothhaft clinched it with an overhead winner on Court 6.
            "I just maintained my focus, tried to dig deep, and I'm super excited for bringing the team to the indoor, getting the clincher," the freshman lefty said. "I owe it all to the team – great teammates, great staff. The past two, three weeks I've been here, they've been helping me, getting me back in shape, and I'm feeling great."
            Before heading to the Indoor Championships, Baylor will get three more tune-up matches, facing Arkansas next Saturday in Fayetteville and hosting seventh-ranked Wake Forest and Penn the following week (Feb. 6-8) at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

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WACO, Texas – No. 5 Baylor men's tennis (5-0) rallied past Louisville (5-1) for a 4-1 win in the ITA Kick-Off championship match on Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

Baylor improved to 20-0 all-time in ITA Kick-Off matches and booked a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis.

Sophomore Finn Bass and freshman Sebastian Nothhaft opened doubles play with a quick 6-0 victory over David Mizrahi and Alex Wesbrooks on court three. Then, 20^th-ranked Constantin Frantzen and Sven Lah clinched the opening point with a 6-3 victory at the top of the lineup.

The Cardinals rallied early in singles play, taking four of six opening sets from the Bears. However, Baylor got its first singles point on the board when 19^th-ranked Lah posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Sergio Hernandez on court two, and then Bass rallied for a 6-0, 7-5 victory over David Mizrahi at the No. 4 spot.

Despite coming back from a late 5-1 deficit, No. 111 Ryan Dickerson dropped his first match of the spring season with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Fabian Salle on court three for the Cardinals' lone point of the match.

Dropping the first set, Nothhaft didn't flinch and came back for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory at the No. 6 spot to clinch the match for the Bears.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor improved to 20-0 in ITA Kick-Off matches, advancing to its 10^th ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• Baylor has won 36 of its last 37 home matches dating back to 2017, including 21 in a row.
• Baylor is 5-0 in the doubles point and 5-0 when winning the doubles point this season.
• Finn Bass and Sven Lah improved to 5-0 in spring singles action.
• Lah and Constantin Frantzen improved to 5-0 in spring doubles play.
• Baylor leads the all-time series against Louisville, 2-1.

STAT OF THE MATCH
0 – the number of Baylor losses at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

TOP QUOTE
Head coach Brian Boland
On the win and Sebastian Nothhaft…
"Louisville is a highly competitive team, and they came ready to compete. It was a hard-fought match which we expected. I'm really pleased to have Sebastian Nothhaft finish a match like that as a freshman. Those are the experiences we want him to have and to embrace that pressure situation. What I loved about it is that he played to win. He didn't back off. He took it to (his opponent) and played really aggressive. He used his strengths all the way to the end, and I'm proud of him."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears clinched a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships field, held Feb. 14-17 in Madison, Wis.

Baylor hits the road for the first time this season and will take on Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. on Saturday. First serve is set for 1 p.m. CT.