By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Not that he didn't believe in his players, but Baylor men's tennis coach Michael Woodson admits that he "felt stressed that we weren't going to have anybody in" the NCAA Individual Championships that begin Tuesday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
 
With no automatic bids or wild cards as the host team, Baylor had to play its way into the singles and doubles tournament that switched from May to November this year for the first time.
 
"This is the first time we're ever doing it, and with the pathway, you don't know how it's going to work," said Woodson, whose team ended up qualifying two doubles teams and a pair of singles entrants for the 32-team and 64-player brackets that will determine the national champions.
 
Earning an NCAA tournament bid as finalists at the ITA All-American, seniors Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen are the No. 2 seeds for the doubles portion of the tournament that will begin Wednesday.
 
Sophomore Devin Badenhorst earned a singles bid at last week's ITA Sectionals, along with Brostrom Poulsen, and is also a 5-8 seed in doubles with junior Zsombor Velcz. With singles action beginning on Tuesday, Badenhorst will face Martin Borisiouk of North Carolina State and Brostrom Poulsen will play Princeton's Top Nidunjianzan, both matches starting at 9 a.m.
 
"It's a difficult balance, because they don't want to spend too much time in one or the other," Woodson said. "The tools that you need to put out onto the court in doubles are a little bit more finely tuned. You have to put specific reps in outside of the serve and return that make a big difference. So, we've been intentional about giving them that time together over the past week, just a little bit every day, and making sure they've gotten exactly what they need."
 
Badenhorst, who is 9-3 with wins over five ranked players, said he wants to do well in singles, "but I also really want to focus on doubles, too, and do well with Z." The Badenhorst/Velcz duo went 4-2 at the ITA All-American tournament, including a pair of top-20 wins.
 
"I feel like we've been preparing better than we did then, spending more time on the court together," Badenhorst said. "I feel more prepared now and more ready to go out there and just compete. I'm just going to take it match by match and see how it goes."
 
Velcz, who is also the third alternate in singles, said he likes the switch from the spring to fall for the individual championships. Playing with TCU transfer Tadeas Paroulek, Velcz made the NCAA doubles tournament two years ago, losing in the first round.
 
"I played NCAAs after a long season, so I had to stay a little bit longer here in the U.S.," Velcz said, "and I wasn't able to go home like the other guys. So, I think from that side, it's better. I feel like it's a good idea that we have these college tournaments in the fall, too, not just practicing with the team and waiting for the spring season to start."
 
Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen's success began this summer, when they won the ITA National Summer Championships in Memphis, Tenn., to earn a wildcard entry into the main draw of the ITA All-Americans.
 
"They've really just parlayed that into some great doubles that gave them an opportunity to play in the All-American," Woodson said. "They wouldn't have gotten into the main draw like they did without that win. They took it and beat a lot of really good teams to make the finals. And they were a point or two away from winning the All-American Championships, too. That's a special team."
 
Miladinovic said there is certainly pressure, but "we are really grateful for the opportunity to play here at home."
 
"Whenever we travel, we need a couple of days to get used to it," he said. "So, I'm sure that's how the other players from other universities are feeling right now. But we've played here so many times, and we love the courts, love the environment. . . . It's really cool to sleep in your own bed and have the home crowd supporting."
 
In doubles, Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen will face Ondrej Horak and Karim Al-Amin from Middle Tennessee, where Brostrom Poulsen was a two-time All-Conference USA first-team selection in doubles before transferring to Baylor last year.
 
"Of course, we believed in ourselves," Miladinovic said, "but we didn't expect that we were going to play in the finals of the All-Americans. We were just going match by match, day by day, and we just clicked. We were really excited each match, to see how we're going to do against good players. We're really excited to be the second seed here and looking forward to playing on Wednesday."
 
Live scoring and tournament updates can be found at NCAA Tennis 24-25.
 
 
WACO, Texas – Baylor men's tennis is set to host the inaugural fall NCAA Men's and Women's Individual Championships at the Hurd Tennis Center this week, starting on Tuesday and running through Sunday.
 
The Bears have two doubles teams, including Devin Badenhorst and Zsombor Velcz, and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Marko Miladinovic, with Badenhorst and Brostrom Poulsen also competing in singles.
 
Badenhorst and Brostrom Poulsen begin the singles competition Tuesday at 9 a.m. Badenhorst will face off against Martin Borisiouk (NC State) while Brostrom Poulsen is going up against Princeton's Top Nidunjianzan.
 
In doubles, the Brostrom Poulsen and Miladinovic duo earned the No. 2 seed for doubles, while Velcz and Badenhorst were slated the 5-8 seedings. Doubles action will begin on Wednesday.
 
Tournament information can be found on the tournament homepage: baylorbea.rs/NCAATennis2425