WT Opens Big 12 Play with 6-1 Win Over Iowa State

Friday, March 6

Waco, Texas

5:00 PM

Baylor

Iowa State

WT Opens Big 12 Play with 6-1 Win Over Iowa State

3/6/2020 8:45:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Scrivano & Kraus hit milestone wins in victory over Cyclones

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            To pull out wins last year, the Baylor women's tennis team had to pick up points at specific positions to have any chance.
            "Last year was a math problem. It was hard to get to four," coach Joey Scrivano said. "This is a different deal. . . . What's great about this team is we can win at any position."
            The 27^th-ranked Bears (9-1, 1-0) almost got a clean sweep of No. 48 Iowa State Friday night at the Hurd Tennis Center, opening Big 12 play with a 6-1 win over the Cyclones (9-4, 1-1) and already matching last year's win total (9-21).
            "If you look at our success, it's all coming from these tight matches and tight situations," said Scrivano, who recorded his 450^th career win in 21 years as a head coach at South Alabama and Baylor. "We started the season with those two 4-3 wins, where we were 1-3 down on the road. That's kind of the MO of this team, it's just mentally tough."
            That showed up in doubles, when Baylor's No. 3 team of Livia Kraus and Kristina Sorokolet pulled out a tiebreaker to clinch the opening point after a split on the first two courts.
            Iowa State's 48^th-ranked duo of Thasaporn Naklo and Christine Hsieh beat Baylor's Angie Shakhraichuk and Paula Baranano, 6-2, but Mel Krywoj and Alicia Herrero Linana evened the doubles with a 6-1 win at No. 1 over Maty Cancini and Ting-Pei Chang.
            "When we knew it came down to our doubles, we were just super focused and super motivated," Kraus said. "Our energy went even more up, and I think that translated into singles. From the beginning, everyone was super-high energized and we were super loud and we just wanted to fight and win."
            Carrying over that momentum, Baylor won four of six first sets and clinched the team victory with straight-set wins at Nos. 6, 4 and 3 singles.
            First off the court, Baranano improved to 7-0 in dual-match play and 13-6 overall, beating the Cyclones' Margarita Timakova, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 6. Herrero Linana cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Chang on Court 4, then Kraus got the clincher in singles as well, taking down Hsieh, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 3.
            "We know what we're capable of, so we just wanted to come out and show our best tennis," said Kraus, who picked up her 50^th career singles victory and 20^th in doubles. "I'm super proud of everyone. Everyone fought very hard, till the end."
            Down a break in both sets, Shakhraichuk got Baylor's fifth point on the board by rallying to beat Chie Kezuka, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 5.
            With the team match decided, the two remaining courts were decided by 10-point tiebreakers after splitting the first two sets. Florida transfer Anastasia Kharitonova rallied from a set down to beat the 119^th-ranked Naklo, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-5), at No. 2, while Krywoj fell to Cancini, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8).
            Scrivano said the Bears are "experiencing a lot of success, they're coming through in very tough situations."
            "That definitely builds confidence," he said. "And they know, ultimately, that they have a lot of resilience. They can fight through these difficult situations. Those type of memories are good, and they tend to carry over into other matches."
            Baylor wraps up the weekend by hosting West Virginia (7-2, 0-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center. The Mountaineers lost to sixth-ranked Texas, 6-1, on Friday after opening league play with a 5-2 loss at home to Iowa State last Sunday.
            "I wish that it would just all of a sudden, magically, last the entire season," Scrivano said. "It's kind of like taking Allegra. It's going to wear off, and then we're going to have to start it all over again. Maybe it's 24-hour Allegra, maybe it's 12, but we have to go back and refocus and do the work all over again."

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas. – Baylor head women's tennis coach Joey Scrivano picked up his 450^th career victory, Livia Kraus won her 50^th career match in singles play, but more importantly the No. 27-ranked Bears opened Big 12 play with a 6-1 win over Iowa State (9-4, 1-1) Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.

Baylor (9-1, 1-0) battled for the doubles point, winning on court one, falling in court two, and all eyes were on Kris Sorokolet and Kraus as the pair grinded out a 7-6 (6-4) win over Chie Kezuka & Margarita Timaokova to take the doubles points.

From there, the Bears took wins on the No. 2-No. 6 courts, respectively and Iowa State's Maty Cancini needed three sets to take down Baylor's Mel Krywoj on the No. 1 court to avoid the sweep, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8).

The junior, Kraus, who sat out some of the early spring matches with shoulder irritation, took a two-set win on court No. 3 over the Cyclones' Christin Hsieh, 6-1, 6-4 to win her 50^th career match.

Scrivano had 60 wins as head coach at South Alabama from 2000-2002 before he collected his 390^th win in the green & gold Friday to give him No. 450 in his 2^1st season as a Division I head coach.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Kraus not only picked up her 50^th career singles win, but her doubles victory on the No. 3 court with Sorokolet was her 20^th career victory in doubles.
• Scrivano has averaged 22.5 wins per season in 20 seasons as head coach.
• Friday marked the 13^th time in the Scrivano era that Baylor has begun league play with a victory and first since 2015.

THEY SAID IT
Baylor Head Coach Joey Scrivano
On the doubles point …
"It just set the tone. What I loved about it was the way we won it. We were dominate in one, didn't play our best at two, and three was a dog fight. We showed a lot of mentally toughness down there at three to find a way to win the tie breaker to really set the tone, got us off to a good start."

On tight matches...
"That's the thing with this team. If you look at our success, it's all coming from these tight matches and tight situations. We started the season like that, where we lose two, four, three wins, and three down on the road. That kind of the emo of this time, the mental toughness."

On depth of the team...
"I think we have a lot of depth obviously. What is great about this team is we can win at any position, we don't have to win at certain position. That's what's makes this team really special is that any even day, we can win four points any given way. That goes back to the mental toughness of the team"

Baylor Junior Livia Kraus
"Well, we worked hard. Kris [Sorokolet] and I were locked in, everyone was locked in. Number one doubles and number two doubles. When we knew it came down to our doubles, we just were super focused and motivated. Our energy went even more up and that one translated into singles. From the beginning, our energy was super high and we were super loud and we just wanted to fight and win."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor resumes play Saturday in Big 12 play vs. West Virginia at 6 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center.