Thursday, October 13
Waco, Texas
All Day
Baylor
vs
ITA Texas Regional Championship
MT’s Bass Wins Regional Singles Title
10/18/2022 3:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Finn Bass has come a long way in two years.
Out of Baylor's singles lineup for most of the 2020-21 season, when the Bears were the NCAA runners-up, Bass won the ITA Texas Regional singles championship Tuesday afternoon at the Hurd Tennis Center.
His confidence boosted with a pair of wins over highly ranked players at the ITA All-American in Tulsa, the fifth-year senior completed an impressive sweep through the ITA Texas Regional with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Texas A&M's Pierce Rollins.
"My expectations were really high because I had a really positive week in Tulsa at the All-American," Bass said. "Of course, anyone wants to win a final. To win this tournament, it's an honor. It's a big tournament, a lot of big players, big schools playing at this event."
Ranked 100th in the ITA preseason rankings, Bass wrapped up a tournament that saw Baylor send two other players to the singles quarterfinals and a pair of doubles team make it to the semifinals. UTSA's Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez upset the top seeds and third-ranked duo of TCU's Sander Jong and Lui Maxted, 6-3, 6-3, in the doubles final.
"I think everybody did something they were proud of this week, and I think everybody moved forward," Baylor coach Michael Woodson said. "Some guys are taking huge strides, other guys are taking small steps. The biggest thing for us is that we're going to continue to push them individually and as a team to keep wanting more. We're going to have to do that if we're going to be nationally competitive in the spring."
Dropping just one set in the tournament, Bass knocked off second-seeded and 19th-ranked Noah Schacter of Texas A&M, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and then dropped just three games combined in a 6-1, 6-2 semifinal win over TCU's Sebastian Gorzny.
After a dominant first set, Bass won the first nine points of the second set and was up a break at 2-0. Rollins got it back to even at 2-2 with a service break, but Bass broke right back and won the next four games, closing it out with a service winner.
"That was massive to get the break back right away," he said. "That's something I tend to be really good at, actually, just forgetting about a game and bouncing right back. That's a big strength of mine. That was just important to just stay ahead. And then, once I got the break back to go up 3-2, I never looked back."
As singles finalists, Bass and Rollins both qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals that will be held Nov. 2-6 in San Diego.
"We talk about it a lot, you don't know when the great results are going to come," Woodson said. "But, you can't get discouraged when they don't come. You just have to be ready for when that opportunity strikes, because you never know when it is."
Baylor will wrap up the month of October with select players competing in the ITF Futures tournaments in Norman, Okla., and Fayetteville, Ark.
WACO, Texas – Baylor men's tennis wrapped up the ITA Texas Regional Championship on Tuesday afternoon with Finn Bass winning the singles title, the first Bear to win since Sven Lah in 2019.
THE RUNDOWN
It was a breezy lunch hour at the Hurd Tennis Center, but nothing stopped Bass in his dominant first-set performance. In quick fashion, he put a lead on the board and tabbed the 6-2 score in the first set. The beginning of set two was tight, as Texas A&M's Pierce Rollins evened things out at two games each. But from that point on, Bass kicked into high gear and secured four-straight games to win the match and the singles title, 6-2, 6-2.
As region finalists, both Bass and Rollins qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals, which will be held Nov. 2-6 in San Diego, Calif.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Michael Woodson
On Finn's performance in the Regional Tournament…
"I think Finn has been doing the right things for a while now. But you don't always see the fruits of your labor in the time that you would necessarily want it, and certainly doesn't happen overnight. So, it's been really impressive to see him, I would say over the last two years, doing everything he needs to do to give himself the best chance to raise his level, to kind of reach heights that I know he and we feel he can. So, watching what's happening out here over the last couple of weeks doesn't surprise me. We talk about it a lot with the guys of, you don't know when the great results are going to come, but you can't get discouraged when they don't come. You just have to be ready for when that opportunity strikes, because you never know when it is."
Finn Bass
On today's match…
"Honestly, it was really cold, even for me as a Brit. We have a chilly breeze here, and obviously playing in windy conditions is difficult. We're both quite aggressive players. (Pierce Rollins) likes to serve and volley, I like to come into the net as well and play aggressive and quite close to the lines. I think what I did better is I managed to hold my mental ability a bit better than he did in tricky conditions. When it's cold and the balls are kind of flying, not playing as fast as (the courts) usually would, you just have to play a bit more within yourself. And I just think I did better at that than he did today."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will compete individually at two ITF pro tournaments to close out the month of October.
Baylor Bear Insider
Finn Bass has come a long way in two years.
Out of Baylor's singles lineup for most of the 2020-21 season, when the Bears were the NCAA runners-up, Bass won the ITA Texas Regional singles championship Tuesday afternoon at the Hurd Tennis Center.
His confidence boosted with a pair of wins over highly ranked players at the ITA All-American in Tulsa, the fifth-year senior completed an impressive sweep through the ITA Texas Regional with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Texas A&M's Pierce Rollins.
"My expectations were really high because I had a really positive week in Tulsa at the All-American," Bass said. "Of course, anyone wants to win a final. To win this tournament, it's an honor. It's a big tournament, a lot of big players, big schools playing at this event."
Ranked 100th in the ITA preseason rankings, Bass wrapped up a tournament that saw Baylor send two other players to the singles quarterfinals and a pair of doubles team make it to the semifinals. UTSA's Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez upset the top seeds and third-ranked duo of TCU's Sander Jong and Lui Maxted, 6-3, 6-3, in the doubles final.
"I think everybody did something they were proud of this week, and I think everybody moved forward," Baylor coach Michael Woodson said. "Some guys are taking huge strides, other guys are taking small steps. The biggest thing for us is that we're going to continue to push them individually and as a team to keep wanting more. We're going to have to do that if we're going to be nationally competitive in the spring."
Dropping just one set in the tournament, Bass knocked off second-seeded and 19th-ranked Noah Schacter of Texas A&M, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and then dropped just three games combined in a 6-1, 6-2 semifinal win over TCU's Sebastian Gorzny.
After a dominant first set, Bass won the first nine points of the second set and was up a break at 2-0. Rollins got it back to even at 2-2 with a service break, but Bass broke right back and won the next four games, closing it out with a service winner.
"That was massive to get the break back right away," he said. "That's something I tend to be really good at, actually, just forgetting about a game and bouncing right back. That's a big strength of mine. That was just important to just stay ahead. And then, once I got the break back to go up 3-2, I never looked back."
As singles finalists, Bass and Rollins both qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals that will be held Nov. 2-6 in San Diego.
"We talk about it a lot, you don't know when the great results are going to come," Woodson said. "But, you can't get discouraged when they don't come. You just have to be ready for when that opportunity strikes, because you never know when it is."
Baylor will wrap up the month of October with select players competing in the ITF Futures tournaments in Norman, Okla., and Fayetteville, Ark.
WACO, Texas – Baylor men's tennis wrapped up the ITA Texas Regional Championship on Tuesday afternoon with Finn Bass winning the singles title, the first Bear to win since Sven Lah in 2019.
THE RUNDOWN
It was a breezy lunch hour at the Hurd Tennis Center, but nothing stopped Bass in his dominant first-set performance. In quick fashion, he put a lead on the board and tabbed the 6-2 score in the first set. The beginning of set two was tight, as Texas A&M's Pierce Rollins evened things out at two games each. But from that point on, Bass kicked into high gear and secured four-straight games to win the match and the singles title, 6-2, 6-2.
As region finalists, both Bass and Rollins qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals, which will be held Nov. 2-6 in San Diego, Calif.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Michael Woodson
On Finn's performance in the Regional Tournament…
"I think Finn has been doing the right things for a while now. But you don't always see the fruits of your labor in the time that you would necessarily want it, and certainly doesn't happen overnight. So, it's been really impressive to see him, I would say over the last two years, doing everything he needs to do to give himself the best chance to raise his level, to kind of reach heights that I know he and we feel he can. So, watching what's happening out here over the last couple of weeks doesn't surprise me. We talk about it a lot with the guys of, you don't know when the great results are going to come, but you can't get discouraged when they don't come. You just have to be ready for when that opportunity strikes, because you never know when it is."
Finn Bass
On today's match…
"Honestly, it was really cold, even for me as a Brit. We have a chilly breeze here, and obviously playing in windy conditions is difficult. We're both quite aggressive players. (Pierce Rollins) likes to serve and volley, I like to come into the net as well and play aggressive and quite close to the lines. I think what I did better is I managed to hold my mental ability a bit better than he did in tricky conditions. When it's cold and the balls are kind of flying, not playing as fast as (the courts) usually would, you just have to play a bit more within yourself. And I just think I did better at that than he did today."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will compete individually at two ITF pro tournaments to close out the month of October.
-BaylorBears.com-
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