FORT WORTH, Texas – In its final regular season match, No. 13 Baylor dropped its seven-match win streak against No. 2 TCU at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon, 4-0.
THE RUNDOWN
TCU (21-2, 8-0) came away with the sweep over Baylor (21-9, 6-2), but the final score does not indicate the three-hour battle that went underway. Beginning in doubles, the Frogs took the early lead on all three courts. On Court Three,
Alexandru Chirita and
Zsombor Velcz went down 0-3 but then went on a four-game winning streak to take the lead 4-3. TCU responded but the Bears held on to their momentum, taking their court 7-5.
On Court One, No. 25
Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and
Marko Miladinovic kept their opponents near but fell at the midway point, losing 6-3. All coming down to Court Two,
Devin Badenhorst and
Luc Koenig took on a battle. The Bears never let the Frogs hold more than a one-game lead and forced a tiebreaker. As the two other courts finalized, it all came down to Court Two's tiebreaker. The South African duo jumped into another battle but couldn't hold on, dropping the doubles point 7-6(5).
Moving to singles, TCU looked to hold the momentum as only two Bears won their first sets. Chirita on Court Four and Miladinovic on Court Six both carried for BU in the first sets, winning their first sets 7-6(4) and 6-3 respectively.
In the second set, Brostrom Poulsen fell to No. 26 Lui Maxted 6-4, 6-1 and the Frogs took a 2-0 lead. No. 99 Velcz responded from his first set deficit quickly, taking the second 4-6, 6-2. Third sets were being forced by both sides as both teams were not giving up easily. Badenhorst on Court One was in a back-and-forth battle to see who would claim the second set with No. 11 Pinnington. Remaining tied for the majority of the set, a tiebreaker ensued but Pinnington came out on top, taking the match 6-4, 7-6(3) to put TCU up 3-0.
In the third sets, Miladinovic couldn't hold his momentum against TCU's Pascual and fell 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 for the Frogs to take the match and claim the regular season title.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH MICHAEL WOODSON
"Credit to TCU today," said head coach
Michael Woodson. "I thought they played the big points a bit better than us overall. We competed up and down the lineup and put ourselves in some good positions but could not capitalize. Some good things to learn from as we set our sights on the postseason. A lot to play for next weekend in Waco and we are looking forward to it!"
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears now prepare to enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed as they host the Big 12 Championships at the Hurd Tennis Center from April 17-20.
