No. 25 WT Wins Season Opener 4-3 Against Illinois
1/17/2026 10:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Bears start season 1-0 for the second year in a row
WACO, Texas. – No. 25 Baylor women's tennis won its season opener against Illinois, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Facility.
The Bears (1-0) earned the doubles point and victories on Courts Two, Three and Five to defeat the Fighting Illini (0-2) and start the season 1-0 for the second consecutive year.
THE RUNDOWN
Starting in doubles, the 61st-ranked duo of Dong and Kubacha made fast work, claiming the 6-2 decision on Court One against the Fighting Illini's 60th-ranked squad. Illinois took the victory on Court Three 6-3, with the doubles point coming down to Court Two, where Kennedy Gibbs and Alian Zack won 7-5 to give BU the 1-0 lead.
In singles, Gibbs was the first to finish, grabbing the victory on Court Three 6-4, 6-0. Freshman Mu-Jie Tzeng earned her first dual match victory, claiming Court Five 6-2, 6-3. On Court Two, Kubacha clinched the win for the Bears with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Finishing out the matches, Gabrielle Villegas fell on Court Six 6-4, 6-0 and Zack dropped on Court Four 6-3, 6-1. Dong fell in her first set 6-2, however, claimed the second set 6-3 to force a third set. In a very back-and-forth third set 10-point tiebreaker, Dong wasn't able to complete the comeback, falling 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7).
QUOTABLE
Head coach Joey Scrivano
On starting season 1-0…
"I'm really proud of the team, they worked really hard to prepare for this one. We had two really hard and long weeks of training camp, and then we played in Knoxville last weekend and we grew a lot in these last two weeks. We have a young team so to see how much they've grown in that time is really impressive."
On Tulane tomorrow…
"I feel good, I feel like we gotta just learn from today and take it into tomorrow. We got a lot of work to do in the next 24 hours and we gotta learn a lot about Tulane so that's our job right now."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears host Tulane (0-1) in a Sunday matinee at noon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
To stay up to date, follow the team on Facebook, X and Instagram: @BaylorWTennis
- BaylorBears.com -
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