No. 27 WT Advances to Second Round with 4-2 Win over Washington

Friday, May 6

College Station, TX

10 AM

Baylor

Washington

No. 27 WT Advances to Second Round with 4-2 Win over Washington

5/6/2022 12:50:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score NCAA1 Box

Bears to face winner between Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Even when the 27^th-ranked Baylor women's tennis team fell down a break on four of the six singles courts in Friday's first-round NCAA match against Washington, Joey Scrivano never panicked.
            After dominating the doubles, the Bears got two more quick points on the board with straight-set wins by Mel Krywoj and Alina Shcherbinina before freshman Anita Sahdieva clinched a 4-2 win over 39^th-ranked Washington by beating Kelly Leung, 6-4, 6-1, on Court 5.
            "I think I was just warming up a little. I was kind of excited about winning the doubles point," Sadhiieva said. "But then, I figured it out eventually. I was just thinking about the team and playing and enjoying the game."
            Baylor (16-8) advances to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the 13^th-straight time and will face seventh-seeded Texas A&M (31-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies breezed through a first-round match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0.
            "A&M is having the best season in their history," Scrivano said. "They're obviously talented and well-coached and they do things right, a lot of the time. However, there's a reason we play these matches. We don't really believe in the odds. We're going to go make the odds and we're going to go out there and make it happen."
            The Bears would like nothing better than to return the favor for a 4-3 second-round loss to A&M five years ago in Waco. Now, the Aggies are the national seed and playing on their home courts.
            "Tomorrow, we think about tomorrow," Sahdiieva said. "Today, we enjoy the win."
            Mixing up the doubles pairings, Scrivano moved Shcherbinina and Isabella Harvison up to No. 2 and subbed in Paula Baranano with Sahdiieva at No. 3.
            "We just felt like we needed some more experience at 3 doubles," Scrivano said, "and Paula's been just a warrior for us and been through a lot of battles. This time of the year, we just felt like it would probably be good to put in a player that's been through a lot."
            Harvison and Shcherbinina cruised to a 6-1 win over Ashley Chang and Nika Zupancic at No. 2, then Sahdiieva and Baranano cliched the first point of the match with a 6-2 win over Leung and Zoey Weil.
            "It always helps to have good chemistry," Scrivano said of the doubles pairings. "But, Paula has been fantastic for us. Combined with the talent of a player like Anita, that's a pretty formidable team down there."
            Washington (14-12) took the momentum, though, when it grabbed early leads on four of the six singles courts. In the blink of an eye, Sahdiieva was down 1-4 to Leung at No. 5 singles.
            "It's crazy to think that way, but if you're down but you're doing the right things and you're in control of the points, typically it will flip pretty quickly," Scrivano said. "My biggest concern is when we're winning and not really playing the right way. Then, it also flips the other way. That doesn't concern me as much as just what's happening during the match. The scoreboard is really a distraction. And sometimes, when you get sucked in, that bites you."
            The scoreboard was definitely in Baylor's favor as Krywoj and Shcherbinina raced to the finish line. Krywoj traded breaks with Zupancic early in the second set before closing with a flurry and winning 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3, right before Shcherbinina rallied from an 0-2 deficit to defeat Weil, 6-1, 6-3, at Court 4.
            Leading 3-0 and needing just one more point to advance, the Bears were up on two of the remaining four courts. But, the Huskies got on the board with wins at the top two spots, Harvison falling to Vanessa Wong, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 1 and Alicia Herrero Linana unable to solve Hikaru Sato at No. 2, 6-3, 6-2.
            Trailing 1-5 in the first set at No. 6, Baranano won 11 of the next 13 games and led Chang, 4-6, 6-1, 2-0, when Sahdiieva got the clincher at No. 5. After dropping four of the first five games, the freshman from the Ukraine won 11 of the next 12 points and put the exclamation on the 6-4, 6-1 win with an overhead slam on match point.
            "It's tough to win, especially against Washington, where we have a history of (4-3 matches)," Scrivano said. "I think every match we've played them, it's been 4-3. So, we were fully aware that they're a well-coached team, they're disciplined and this was not going to be easy. So, just proud of our players. They responded really well today."
            A&M rolled over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0, in the other first-round match and has won 22-straight since a 4-3 loss to California on Feb. 11 at the ITA National Indoor.

THE RUNDOWN
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 27 Baylor women's tennis advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-2 win over Washington Friday morning at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M.

The Bears, in their 23^rd NCAA Tournament, advanced to the second round for the 13^th straight tournament.

Baylor made quick work of the Huskies during doubles play as the Bears clinched the first point of the morning 30 minutes after the match began.

Isabella Harvison and Alina Shcherbinina, playing on court two for the first time this spring, set the tone with a 6-1 win over Ashley Chang and Nika Zupancic. One court down, Paula Baranano and Anita Sahdiieva clinched the doubles point with their 6-2 win over Kelly Leung and Zoey Weil.

The momentum carried over for the Bears into singles as the lead quickly rose to 3-0. Krywoj made quick work of Nika Zupancic, 6-2, 6-2. Less than five minutes later, Shcherbinina wrapped up her 6-1, 6-3 win over Zoey Weil.

After the Huskies posted back-to-back wins on the top two courts, Sahdiieva clinched the win for the Bears with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kelly Leung on court five.

HIGHLIGHTS

Baylor went with a new-look doubles lineup against the Huskies. No. 7 ranked Mel Krywoj and Alicia Herrero held things down on court one. Isabella Harvison and Alina Shcherbinina moved up to court two while the duo of Paula Baranano and Anita Sahdiieva played together for the first time this spring on court three.
Alina Shcherbinina moved to 13-3 this spring on court four. She's won three straight.
Mel Krywoj is now 8-4 on court three.

QUOTE
Joey Scrivano on the match…
"It's tough to win, especially against an opponent like Washington. We have a history of 4-3 matches. We were fully aware that they're a well-coached team. They're disciplined. This was not going to be easy. Proud of our players. They responded really well today."

UP NEXT
Baylor will face the winner between seventh-seed Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mitchell Tennis Center.

www.BaylorBears.com