Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – During the Baylor men's tennis team's preseason retreat to California earlier this month, Michael Woodson said he "felt a little bit of pressure" when he heard people talking about booking their trips to Waco for the NCAA Championships in May.
 
"We need to make sure that we're there," Woodson said of the eight-team finals the Bears will host at the Hurd Tennis Center. "At the end of the day, I think it'sust a motivating factor. It really raises the bar for who we are. And it's not like we're dealing with a group of guys that it's a real stretch to think that they would be in the finals. This team is special, top to bottom, and we believe that."
 
The Bears (2-0) will get a chance to prove they're part of the college tennis elite when they host fourth-ranked Wake Forest (2-0) at 12:30 p.m. Friday and No. 2 TCU (1-0) at 6 p.m. Monday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
 
"Being able to play two top-5 teams this early in the season is always a great test to see where we are as a team," said senior Oskar Brostrom Poulsen, who is ranked 58^th in singles and No. 3 in doubles with fellow senior Marko Miladinovic.
 
"And I think we can gain a lot of knowledge on ourselves, but also the other teams on what we can do in order to be the best version of ourselves throughout the season."
 
Coming off a rebuilding 17-12 season that ended with a first-round loss to San Diego in the NCAA Tournament, Baylor had a successful fall campaign highlighted by Brostrom Poulsen and Miladinovic finishing as the runners-up at the ITA All-American and Devin Badenhorst and Zsombor Velcz reaching the semifinals.
 
"I think having a lot of matches in the fall and good practices can really set you up for success in the spring," Miladinovic said.
 
Bedenhorst and Brostrom Poulsen also made the NCAA Championship singles tournament in November and are ranked 25^th and 58^th, respectively, while Velcz is 54^th in the latest ITA rankings.
 
"What Devin has been doing over the last several months is giving a boost to all of his teammates," Woodson said of the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week. "And really, he's just scratching the surface. But at the same time, he's able to push all the guys in practice, raise their level, too."
 
Baylor opened the spring dual-match season with 7-0 wins over Lamar and ACU on Sunday, with Woodson picking up his 100^th career victory (100-37). All 12 players on Baylor's roster were in the lineup, including international grad transfer Alexandru Chirita going 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles in his debut in green and gold.
 
"We chase the results, but we are committed to the process," Woodson said. "Our goal is to lift the first trophy in February (for the ITA National Indoor Championships). We've got about a month of preparation, so we're really just staying focused on that."
 
Wake Forest, a semifinalist in last year's NCAA Championships, has a pair of ranked singles teams in junior DK Suresh Ekambaram and grad student Ioannis Xilas. The Demon Deacons also boosted their roster with transfer Stefan Dostanic, who played No. 1 singles at USC.
 
TCU, the defending national champion, has a pair of top-12 players in Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted and two other top-100 players. The Horned Frogs have won six in a row versus Baylor and hold a 40-31 all-time lead in the series, while Wake Forest is 4-3 against the Bears, winning last year's match in Winston-Salem, 5-2.
 
"We always love beating TCU, and Wake Forest has grown to be a rival as well," Woodson said. "We all see each other so much at the top of college tennis. So, it's a fun thing to be able to compete against these teams. And winning is amazing."


 
WACO, Texas – Baylor men's tennis prepares for a big weekend at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center, hosting No. 4 Wake Forest on Friday at 12:30 p.m. and No. 2 TCU on Monday at 6 p.m.
 
Coming off its season-opening double-header, Baylor (2-0, 0-0) looks to carry its momentum into the weekend as it faces off against two highly preseason ranked teams of No. 4 Wake Forest (2-0, 0-0) and No. 2 TCU (1-0, 0-0).
 
The Bears look to even the all-time series with the Deacons as Wake Forest leads 4-3, winning the last season's match at Winston-Salem 5-2. The Horned Frogs lead the all-time series 40-31, as Baylor hopes to snap the six-match winning streak TCU holds.
 
During BU's double-header on Sunday, all 12 players on the 2025 roster made an appearance in the two matches, all taking home wins. Ranked as the No. 25 singles player in the nation, sophomore Devin Badenhorst earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors after going 3-0 on the day, 1-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles on Courts One and Three. Grad transfer Alexandru Chirita made his Baylor debut, going 3-0 overall, 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles.
 
Wake Forest enters Friday's match with two ranked singles players with DK Suresh at No. 7 and Ioannis Xilas at No. 115. TCU will face off against the Bears with four ranked singles players with No. 9 Pedro Vives, No. 12 Lui Maxted, No. 74 Duncan Chan and No. 87 Julian Alonso Vivanco. The next round of individual rankings from the ITA will come on February 5.
 
Fans attending the matches can receive free Chick-Fil-A and Tiff's Treats on Friday and free tennis lip balms on Monday, while supplies last.
 
For the latest news on the Baylor men's tennis team all year long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorMTennis.