No. 8 WT’s Season Ends in 4-3 loss to Duke in Second Round of NCAAs

Saturday, May 8

Waco, Texas

5:00 p.m.

Baylor

Duke

No. 8 WT’s Season Ends in 4-3 loss to Duke in Second Round of NCAAs

5/8/2021 9:18:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bears post highest win total since 2015

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Joey Scrivano won't let one loss define what has been "an incredible season."
            With a talented and 18^th-ranked Duke team (17-6) dominating at the top of the lineup, the eighth-seeded Baylor Bears (24-5) saw their best season in six years come to a stunning end with a 4-3 loss to the Blue Devils at the Hurd Tennis Center in Saturday's second-round match in the NCAA Tournament.
            "I'm really proud of the entire team," Scrivano said. "This doesn't take away from the fact that they had an incredible season and they were one of the best teams in college tennis. . . . They competed very hard, just came up a little short."
            Baylor won the doubles point when Alicia Herrero Linana and Audrey Boch-Collins defeated the 41^st-ranked duo of Kelly Chen and Georgia Drummy, 7-6, taking the tiebreaker, 7-3. At No. 2, seniors Jessica Hinojosa and Kris Sorokolet upset ninth-ranked Chloe Beck and Karolina Berankova, 6-3, while Angie Shakhraichuk and Mel Krywoj lost to 10^th-ranked Meible Chi and Margaryta Bilokin, 6-4, at No. 1.
            "It was just a really great effort to get that point on the board," Scrivano said. "We, obviously, needed that point. You could see the way the match played out, that was a really key point for us. I'm just proud of our team."
            While Baylor has no players in the NCAA singles or doubles tournaments that will be held later this month in Orlando, Fla., Duke had three singles players, one alternate and two doubles teams that were selected.
            That strength at the top of the lineup as the Blue Devils won in straight sets at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 singles. The 19^th-ranked Drummy blanked Hinojosa, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2, then Shakhraichuk lost to the 40^th-ranked Chi, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 4 to give the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead.
            "They're not hurting for really good players. They've got great players, that's quite obvious, at all positions. They can just take the racket out of your hands. The head scratcher is why they are 18^th in the country. Ultimately, we rose to the challenge and just fell a little short."
            Herrero Linana battled at No. 3, but never came up with an answer for the 39^th-ranked Beck's serve and fell, 6-3, 6-2.
            Needing to win on the three remaining courts, the Bears knotted it at 3-all with wins at the bottom of the singles lineup. Sophomore Paula Baranano blasted Berankova, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 6, then Sorokolet won the last four games in a 7-5, 6-2 sweep over Bilokin at No. 6.
            "Kristina has been just an awesome senior," Scrivano said of Sorokolet, who notched her 63^rd singles victory. "She's gone through all the ups and downs and she's helped bring the program back to where it is right now. Today, what a performance by her in singles and doubles. I wish we were going to Orlando, but that was just a heck of an effort by the entire team."
            With all the other matches finished, it came down to the No. 1 singles court, where the 67^th-ranked Krywoj beat the 49^th-ranked Chen, 6-3, in the opening set and had a chance to get it to a second-set tiebreaker but dropped three-straight break points to split sets with a 7-5 loss.
            Going back to the end of the second set, Krywoj lost four-consecutive service games and dug a 5-1 hole in the decisive third set. She won a dominant service game at love and had a chance to get back in it with four break points at love-40, but hit three-straight approach shots long and then couldn't get to Chen's forehand winner that closed out a 3-6. 7-5, 6-2 victory.
             "Mel did everything you need to do. She started strong and was really on track," Scrivano said. "But, tennis hard and Chen is a heck of a player. It's not like she's just going to go and give you the match. There are no gifts in this sport. Chen competed hard, found a way to get back in it and it came down to one set. Unfortunately, that was just not a great set for us. What can you do? That's the sport."
            While Baylor bows out in the second round for the fourth time in the last six years, Duke advances to the Round of 16 and will face ninth-seeded UCF, a 4-1 winner over Miami, Fla. Two other seeded teams got beat on Saturday, with No. 11 Florida falling 4-1 to USC and Michigan pulling out a 4-3 win over 12^th-seeded LSU.
            Baylor's senior class of Sorokolet, Shakhraichuk, Hinojosa and Livia Kraus, who had not played since March 28, won a combined 302 singles matches in their careers.
            "All four of them have been just incredible for the program and helped us get to this point, and now we're in a way better position than when they came here," Scrivano said. "We're in a really healthy position. The culture's really good, the future is really bright. I'm just really proud that they helped us get here."

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas. – In a match that went down to the wire, the No. 18-ranked Duke Blue Devils upset the No. 8-ranked Baylor women's tennis team, 4-3, Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Hurd Tennis Center.

Baylor took the doubles match highlighted by the Bears taking wins over ranked Duke opponents on courts No. 2 and No. 3 to take the doubles point. No. 19-ranked Georgia Drummy of Duke took a 6-0, 6-0 win on court No. 2 in singles to even the score. Then, the Blue Devils' Meible Chi gave Duke the lead again with a 6-1, 6-2 win on court No. 4 for a 2-1 edge.

Paula Barañano put the pressure back on with a 6-1, 6-3 win on court No. 6 to knot the score at two, but Duke answered back when Chloe Beck beat Alicia Herrero Linana, 6-3, 6-2. Kristina Sorokolet extended the match with a 7-5, 6-2 win on court two leaving the fate in the hands of the No. 1 court.

Mel Krywoj won the first set over Kelly Chen, but the No. 49-ranked Blue Devil knotted up the match with a 7-5 win in set two. Trailing 5-1, Krywoj took a second set, but Chen finished it off sending the Blue Devils to the regional quarterfinals.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor's 24-5 record gave the Bears their highest win total since 2015.
• Senior Kristina Sorokolet finished her career with a respectable 63-41 record in singles.
• Angelina Shakhraichuk closed her career with Baylor with an 80-42 singles record and 66-53 doubles mark.
• Jessica Hinojosa ended her career with an 83-54 record on the singles court.
• Livia Kraus closed her career with a 76-26 singles record, which ranks her tied for ninth all-time on the BU career list for winning percentage at .745.
• Joey Scrivano's head-coaching record at Baylor improved to 415-157 (.726).

THEY SAID IT
Baylor Head Coach Joey Scrivano on the season's end…
"I'm really proud of the entire team. It doesn't take away from the fact that they had an incredible season, and they were one of the best teams in college tennis this year, one of the most consistent teams. And then of course for the seniors, Jess, Angie, Kristina and Livia; all four of them have just been incredible for the program and have really helped us to get to this point. And now, we're in a better position than when they came here. We're in a really healthy position, the culture is really good, and the future is really bright. I'm just proud that they helped us get here."