Friday, February 14
Waco, Texas
6:30 p.m.
Baylor
vs
TCU
MT Kick-Starts ITA Indoor Championships Against Top-Seeded TCU
2/13/2025 6:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Bears to open first round Friday at 6:30 pm CT
Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – This is exactly what brought sophomore Devin Badenhorst to Baylor last January. He wanted to be "put up against the best."
Badenhorst and the Bears (6-4) will get that chance in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, when they face top-ranked and defending national champion TCU (6-1) at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
"I feel like everyone on our team wants to become professional tennis players after college. And I feel like a program like Baylor does give that to you," Badenhorst said. "You want to go out there and play against teams that are not the best in the country.
"You want to be put up against the best, even when you come up short a couple times, and just keep improving week in and week out to get better and to be able to beat those guys. That's where we want to go right now, and I feel like our team can do that."
Friday's match between Baylor and TCU highlights the first day of the 16-team tournament that is split between Waco's Hawkins Indoor Center and the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas, where SMU is hosting the other half of the bracket led by second-ranked and top-seeded Wake Forest.
"It's just exciting to be able to play for the first time here at home in the Indoor National Championships against your biggest rival," Baylor coach Michael Woodson said. "It's what all these guys come here for. It's really exciting for our entire athletic department, our university and certainly our team. We're pumped."
If this one's anything like the first time Baylor and TCU played 25 days ago, you better get comfortable. In a match that lasted 3 ½ hours, the Horned Frogs pulled out a 4-1 win with Jack Pinnington's 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Badenhorst at No. 1 singles.
Baylor took two of the other singles matches to three sets and lost a 7-6 (11-9) tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles that cost the Bears the first point.
Woodson said the loss at No. 3 doubles, when they had for match points, "was a tough blow."
"To be honest with you, Alex (Alexandru Chirita) has almost been unbeatable," Woodson said. "That was his only loss, and he was so discouraged from the doubles that he had just never been in that type of situation. I think he's now learned what it looks like to bounce back from the doubles, or to kind of eliminate the momentum one way or the other and just move on into singles. I think all of us feel like we were right there three weeks ago."
The Bears also played that match without junior Zsombor Velcz, who sat out two weeks healing up from wrist and Achilles' injuries.
"I was struggling with some injuries since the end of the last semester," said Velcz, who dropped a three-setter in the deciding match at No. 3 singles in a 4-3 loss to 10th-ranked San Diego. "I'm getting healthier, so I'm getting back on course, which is good for me. Hopefully, I can give 100% for the team, for myself, and have a chance to win."
The Baylor bracket schedule begins with 21st-ranked UCF versus No. 4 Ohio State at 9 a.m., followed by 11th-ranked Stanford versus No. 6 Columbia at 12 p.m. and then seventh-ranked Duke versus No. 9 San Diego at 3 p.m.
Having already played TCU, Wake Forest, Ohio State and San Diego, Woodson said the Bears have "seen it all."
"We know what the best looks like," he said. "We're excited to host many of the best teams in the country. It's a super physical weekend. Over the next four or five days, we're going to play three or four matches, and it's not easy. But fortunately, we've put together a schedule that has tested us against this caliber of opponent. I think we're ready physically, mentally and emotionally."
The matches at both sites will be covered live by Cracked Racquets via the ITA and CR You Tube channels. Tickets are available for $10 per session or $50 for an all-session pass.
WACO, Texas – No. 8 seed Baylor men's tennis is ready to host the best teams in the nation this weekend as the first round of the ITA Indoor Championships will begin on Friday, with Baylor and No. 1 seed TCU facing off against each other at 6:30 pm CT at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Facility.
Slated as the last match of the day, the Bears (6-4) will face the Frogs (6-1) on primetime for the second time this season.
The Bears fell to then No. 2 ranked TCU in the meeting at Hawkins on Jan. 20, 4-1, which featured a point from senior Marko Miladinovic on court 6 in singles. Baylor is 1-4 against the tournament field in 2025, besting SMU and falling vs. No. 4 Wake Forest, No. 2 TCU, No. 9 San Diego and No. 4 Ohio State as part of a grueling early season schedule.
The winner of the TCU-Baylor clash will advance to face the winner of fourth-seeded and No. 7 ranked Duke or fifth-seeded and No. 9 ranked San Diego on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Hawkins. There is a consolation bracket element to the tournament, allowing each team to play three matches with the consolation bracket concluding on Saturday and Sunday.
Baylor owns a 33-18 record in singles, including a 7-0 mark in the spring on court 2, including a 6-0 mark from senior Oskar Brostrom Poulsen. Newcomer Alexandru Chirita is a team-high 7-1 in singles, while Miladinovic is 6-2.
In doubles, Baylor is 14-10 as a team, including a 5-1 mark on court 2, led by a 4-0 stretch from Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig.
Badenhorst leads the Bears in the single ranks at No. 37, Zsombor Velcz ranks No. 64 and Brostrom Poulsen is No. 85. In doubles, Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen rank No. 9, Velcz and Badenhorst at No. 19, Velcz and Brostrom Poulsen are No. 44, and Koenig and Imran Daniel Abdul Bazli rank No. 64.
The matches will be covered live by Cracked Racquets via the ITA and CR YouTube channels. Tickets are available for as low as $10.
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – This is exactly what brought sophomore Devin Badenhorst to Baylor last January. He wanted to be "put up against the best."
Badenhorst and the Bears (6-4) will get that chance in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, when they face top-ranked and defending national champion TCU (6-1) at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
"I feel like everyone on our team wants to become professional tennis players after college. And I feel like a program like Baylor does give that to you," Badenhorst said. "You want to go out there and play against teams that are not the best in the country.
"You want to be put up against the best, even when you come up short a couple times, and just keep improving week in and week out to get better and to be able to beat those guys. That's where we want to go right now, and I feel like our team can do that."
Friday's match between Baylor and TCU highlights the first day of the 16-team tournament that is split between Waco's Hawkins Indoor Center and the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas, where SMU is hosting the other half of the bracket led by second-ranked and top-seeded Wake Forest.
"It's just exciting to be able to play for the first time here at home in the Indoor National Championships against your biggest rival," Baylor coach Michael Woodson said. "It's what all these guys come here for. It's really exciting for our entire athletic department, our university and certainly our team. We're pumped."
If this one's anything like the first time Baylor and TCU played 25 days ago, you better get comfortable. In a match that lasted 3 ½ hours, the Horned Frogs pulled out a 4-1 win with Jack Pinnington's 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Badenhorst at No. 1 singles.
Baylor took two of the other singles matches to three sets and lost a 7-6 (11-9) tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles that cost the Bears the first point.
Woodson said the loss at No. 3 doubles, when they had for match points, "was a tough blow."
"To be honest with you, Alex (Alexandru Chirita) has almost been unbeatable," Woodson said. "That was his only loss, and he was so discouraged from the doubles that he had just never been in that type of situation. I think he's now learned what it looks like to bounce back from the doubles, or to kind of eliminate the momentum one way or the other and just move on into singles. I think all of us feel like we were right there three weeks ago."
The Bears also played that match without junior Zsombor Velcz, who sat out two weeks healing up from wrist and Achilles' injuries.
"I was struggling with some injuries since the end of the last semester," said Velcz, who dropped a three-setter in the deciding match at No. 3 singles in a 4-3 loss to 10th-ranked San Diego. "I'm getting healthier, so I'm getting back on course, which is good for me. Hopefully, I can give 100% for the team, for myself, and have a chance to win."
The Baylor bracket schedule begins with 21st-ranked UCF versus No. 4 Ohio State at 9 a.m., followed by 11th-ranked Stanford versus No. 6 Columbia at 12 p.m. and then seventh-ranked Duke versus No. 9 San Diego at 3 p.m.
Having already played TCU, Wake Forest, Ohio State and San Diego, Woodson said the Bears have "seen it all."
"We know what the best looks like," he said. "We're excited to host many of the best teams in the country. It's a super physical weekend. Over the next four or five days, we're going to play three or four matches, and it's not easy. But fortunately, we've put together a schedule that has tested us against this caliber of opponent. I think we're ready physically, mentally and emotionally."
The matches at both sites will be covered live by Cracked Racquets via the ITA and CR You Tube channels. Tickets are available for $10 per session or $50 for an all-session pass.
WACO, Texas – No. 8 seed Baylor men's tennis is ready to host the best teams in the nation this weekend as the first round of the ITA Indoor Championships will begin on Friday, with Baylor and No. 1 seed TCU facing off against each other at 6:30 pm CT at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Facility.
Slated as the last match of the day, the Bears (6-4) will face the Frogs (6-1) on primetime for the second time this season.
The Bears fell to then No. 2 ranked TCU in the meeting at Hawkins on Jan. 20, 4-1, which featured a point from senior Marko Miladinovic on court 6 in singles. Baylor is 1-4 against the tournament field in 2025, besting SMU and falling vs. No. 4 Wake Forest, No. 2 TCU, No. 9 San Diego and No. 4 Ohio State as part of a grueling early season schedule.
The winner of the TCU-Baylor clash will advance to face the winner of fourth-seeded and No. 7 ranked Duke or fifth-seeded and No. 9 ranked San Diego on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Hawkins. There is a consolation bracket element to the tournament, allowing each team to play three matches with the consolation bracket concluding on Saturday and Sunday.
Baylor owns a 33-18 record in singles, including a 7-0 mark in the spring on court 2, including a 6-0 mark from senior Oskar Brostrom Poulsen. Newcomer Alexandru Chirita is a team-high 7-1 in singles, while Miladinovic is 6-2.
In doubles, Baylor is 14-10 as a team, including a 5-1 mark on court 2, led by a 4-0 stretch from Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig.
Badenhorst leads the Bears in the single ranks at No. 37, Zsombor Velcz ranks No. 64 and Brostrom Poulsen is No. 85. In doubles, Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen rank No. 9, Velcz and Badenhorst at No. 19, Velcz and Brostrom Poulsen are No. 44, and Koenig and Imran Daniel Abdul Bazli rank No. 64.
The matches will be covered live by Cracked Racquets via the ITA and CR YouTube channels. Tickets are available for as low as $10.
Players Mentioned
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