WACO, Texas – In a four- and half-hour battle against the No. 10 team of San Diego, Baylor men's tennis couldn't pull out the upset, falling 4-3 in Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Friday night.
THE RUNDOWN
In doubles, the No. 3 duo of
Marko Miladinovic and
Oskar Brostrom Poulsen took on the No. 1 pair in the nation of Tarvet and Klaassen on Court One. The Bears went up 4-2 early, but the top ranked team didn't let up easily and took the match overall 7-5. On Court Three,
Louis Bowden and
Alexandru Chirita was unable to get momentum to their side and fell 6-3. On Court Two,
Luc Koenig and
Devin Badenhorst. The match went back and forth consistently with neither team letting up and keeping the match at one-game lead. The South African duo went into a tiebreaker at six-all but was unable to finish the match before the Bears fell in doubles overall.
Moving on in singles, the Bears held nothing back. In the first set, all six courts had the Bears written all over them with every Bear winning the first set. No. 58 Brostrom Poulsen made quick work and took down San Diego's Vasa 6-4, 6-1 to put the first point on the board Baylor. Likewise on Court Three, Koenig took on No. 71 Klaassen and dominated the Torero 6-4, 6-3. On Court Five, Chirita carried his momentum from his tiebreaker 7-6(6) first set victory into the second set to defeat Berrut 7-6(6), 6-3 and put Baylor up 3-1.
With only needing one match to clinch and three matches still going, Baylor started feeling the pressure from San Diego. After a 6-3 first set win, No. 25 Badenhorst began to slip against No. 15 Tarvet. Tarvet took the second set 6-2 and continued to carry his momentum in the third to take it 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and bring the Toreros back 2-3.
No. 54
Zsombor Velcz made his return to the courts tonight on Court Three to face off against No. 29 Danilov. In the first set, Velcz battled out a 7-6(3) win. However, Danilov responded and narrowed out a 7-6(7) second set. Extending the match to a third set, the eyes in the crowd looked down to Court Six where Miladinovic was facing off against Niedner in the third set after the first two sets went to 7-5, 2-6. Miladinovic went up four-love in the third, but Niedner came back in the narrative to take the third set his way 5-4. Miladinovic began to battle back and forth and extended the match to a tiebreaker. However, Niedner came away victorious 7-6(6) in the third. Moments later, Velcz fell to Danilov and San Diego came away victorious.
Head Coach Michael Woodson
"I think every match we've played, we've gotten better. We feel strongly that we can compete for a national championship by the time May rolls around. We just need to keep getting better match after match. We took another step forward today. We didn't get over the hump, but obviously it's a point or two here or there. So, I feel good about where the teams at. The question is, how resilient are they going to be after a tough loss like this?"
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears turnaround to get ready for a doubleheader on Sunday against New Mexico and Rice.
