By Elisabeth Tharp | Sports Director

The 11th ranked Baylor men’s tennis team dominated in their doubleheader season opener against Prairie View A&M and UT Arlington Friday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

Baylor has won 22 of its last 23 season openers dating back to 1996, and Baylor head coach Brian Boland said this season opener was really special.

“We’ve been waiting a really long time to compete,” Boland said. “I love this group of guys, they are such a good team, and they’ve worked really hard on the culture and spent so much time together anticipating the opportunity to compete as a team. This was a great start.”

Coach Boland said UT Arlington was certainly a challenge and had a lot of grit and fight.

“This was exactly what we needed to get ready for [The University of Pennsylvania] on Monday,” Boland said.

Senior Jimmy Bendeck said winning the season opener is nice but it’s just the beginning.

“I think the team did an unbelievable job staying focused,” Bendeck said. “It was competitive and just amazing how we didn’t lose one match.”

Being Baylor’s first dual match with a semi-new team, Bendeck said it felt like they had been playing together for 2-3 years already.

“I thought it was super special,” Bendeck said. “The guys who were off the court showed they are just as important as the guys who were playing on the court.”

After this doubleheader, Bendeck said fans can expect to see a lot of fight, pride, and toughness from them this season.

“There are a lot of guys who are disciplined, grateful and respectful,” Bendeck said. “There are also guys out there who are wanting to be competitive and ready to win.”

The team’s next match is this Monday, Jan. 21 at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center against Penn.