No. 16 MT Sweeps UCF for Road Victory

Thursday, April 3

Orlando, Fla.

5 p.m.

Baylor

UCF

No. 16 MT Sweeps UCF for Road Victory

4/3/2025 9:58:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Bears grab third win in a row on the road, 4-0

ORLANDO, Fla. – In dominant fashion, No. 16 Baylor men's tennis took on No. 17 UCF at USTA National Campus on Thursday night and swept the Knights 4-0.

Baylor (18-8, 4-1) was in control of the match for the entirety, only allowing UCF (16-7, 2-3) to win two sets for the whole two-and-half-hour match.

THE RUNDOWN
Leading off in doubles, the Bears took quick leads on all three courts. The No. 3 of Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita jumped on top of their opponents quick, never letting their opponents near the entirety of the match. Finding rhythm, all three courts held a 5-2 lead. Velcz and Chirita were the first to capture a win 6-2 over UCF's Colin and Oliverira. Right behind them were the No. 18 duo of Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen with a 6-2 win over Sanchez and Dlimi to secure the doubles point for the Bears.

Following in singles, the Bears kept their momentum up, nearly sweeping all six courts in first set wins. No. 36 Badenhorst, taking on No. 77 Dlimi of UCF, earned a big first set breaker 7-6(4) to carry into the second.

UCF responded slightly with No. 86 Benchakroun taking the second set over Brostrom Poulsen to push the match to a third. However, the Bears were all over the Knights on majority of courts. Miladinovic was the first Bear to put a point on the board with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 win on Court Six.

Following right behind was No. 100 Velcz with a 6-4, 6-4 win over UCF's Colin on Court Three. Velcz now holds a nine straight matches won.

Clinching the set and match point, Badenhorst was the Bear to win the sweep, earning a ranked 7-6(4), 6-4 win to give the Bears their fourth point and their third road match win.

Brostrom Poulsen was left unfinished on Court Two after a dominant first set, 6-2, 3-6, 3-3. Chirita was nearly there to put another point on the board for Baylor with a 7-5, 6-5 match on Court Four. Louis Bowden dropped his first set in a dueling tiebreaker but was up five games in the second at 7-6(8), 0-5.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH MICHAEL WOODSON
"We couldn't ask for much more going into the start of doubles," head coach Michael Woodson said. "We really jumped on them on all three courts. Even though we got broken early at one doubles, we got right back winning five games in a row. Zsombor and Alex did a fantastic job at Three from the very beginning. Luc and Devin operated throughout, eventually got the break and were two points away from winning. We worked a lot on specifics of doubles this week and talking about and really digging into the areas that we've been missing. I think the core of what we've been doing in doubles has been good, we just felt like there were one or two things that we need to do better and then we can be one of the best doubles points in the country. They really showed that today. I was super proud of the effort they put out on the court to secure the doubles.

Going into singles, these are difficult conditions. It was hot, humid, windy. This UCF team is very gritty, very well coached, they fight super hard and compete at every spot top to bottom. We knew that this was going to be difficult. Our guys buckled in and got to work.

I think we were on serve a lot throughout. The first that's on most of the courts outside of Oskar, just jumping all over his opponent which was great for our momentum and energy. As the end of the sets came, we played better than they did. We really did a fantastic job of winning the important points, winning some momentum and obviously taking five first sets. Even Louis was right there and then he responded 5-0 in the second. It was very clean up and down and we kept our foot on the gas, never let them into the match and we were able to get away with a 4-0 win that very well could've ended 7-0.

That was a great effort from the guys. They're continuing to show an increase level of maturity and professionalism under pressure and I think that's going to carry as well as we return home and take on a very tough Oklahoma State team on Sunday."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor returns home for a doubleheader on Sunday at the Hurd Tennis Center, facing off against No. 74 Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. and Prairie View A&M at 6 p.m. CT. Fans attending the OSU match can receive free white t-shirts for the White Out as supplies last.

- BaylorBears.com -