STEPPING UP

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – Alexandru Chirita admits that his senior season at Baylor has been "a little bit harder for me," losing six in a row at one point and winning just once in the last month.

But the Romanian stepped up in a big way Saturday night, rallying from a 3-5 second-set deficit to defeat Auburn's Freddy Blaydes, 6-2, 7-5, at No. 4 singles to clinch the 10^th-seeded Bears' 4-1 win over the visiting Tigers at the Hurd Tennis Center.

"Clinching, it's always a good feeling," said Chirita, who improved to 10-10 overall this spring after compiling a 15-5 record in his first year with the Bears. "I try not to focus on that as much. I saw that I was about to clinch, maybe before Louis (Boden at No. 6). I just tried to stay focus on every point. And then, you just enjoy the moment when it happens."

Not only did the Bears (24-9) advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2022, they will host the Super Regional next Friday at the Hurd Center after seventh-seeded LSU was upset by 27^th-ranked Pepperdine, 4-3, Saturday in Baton Rouge.

"To play another match at home is everything we could have wanted," Baylor coach Michael Woodson said. "To be honest, it's the coolest math in the country. In 2017, we played Texas in the Round of 16. And it would have been an incredible match here or at UT. But we played on Thursday at 9 a.m. in Athens, Georgia, and there were 50 people watching. That match belongs in prime time in a home facility."

Chirita certainly played a key part in getting the Bears this time. Before turning his attention to the singles court, Chirita combined with fellow senior Zsombor Velcz to upset the 11^th-ranked brother duo of Freddy and Billy Blaydes, 6-3, on Court 1.

Just moments later, Big 12 Co-Player of the Year Devin Badenhorst and freshman Calvin Baierl followed suit with a 6-3 win over Auburn's Jake Kennedy and Hamza Nasridinov that put the first point on the board.

"I feel like there was a big stretch of the season where we were struggling in doubles," Woodson said. "It was such a focus of ours that we trained ourselves into a pretty good form. And I think when you start to win the doubles points, you gain confidence. We've got three really good teams, and I feel like any of them could play 1. That's a great problem for us to have. it's huge in a match like this to get the doubles point."

Chirita said he always wanted to play with Velcz since coming to Baylor last year. They are a combined 13-10 playing Nos. 1 and 2 doubles.

"When I found out at the beginning of the season, I was like, 'Man, we have to lock in so that they don't split us,''' Sanders said. "It's always fun to play with him. I feel like I know him well, what he does on the court. And he knows me well."

Baylor took control of the match by winning the doubles point and taking five of the six first sets in singles, including Chirita dominating Blaydes, 6-2, on Court 4.

"I just feel like we were a little bit more courageous than them under pressure in some big moments," Woodson said. "I'm sure they maybe feel like, 'Man, it was a point or two, and it could flip. But we played to win all those points. Our biggest focus was to play point by point and concentrate as hard as we could. And I think we did a good job of that."

With the two wins this weekend, the Bears will try to regroup and get ready for that Super Regional meeting with Pepperdine (19-9) at 6 p.m. Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.

Players Mentioned

Devin Badenhorst

Calvin Baierl

Alexandru Chirita

Zsombor Velcz

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