Tennis uses two comebacks to sweep its weekend

Freshman Ema Burgic prepares to return the serve against Clemson on March 20 at the Hurd Tennis Center. Isaac Dovalina | Round Up Photographer
Freshman Ema Burgic prepares to return the serve against Clemson on March 20 at the Hurd Tennis Center.
Isaac Dovalina | Round Up Photographer

By Kasey McMillian
Reporter

No. 11 Baylor defeated No. 47 Oklahoma 4-3 Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center. After the losing the doubles point, the Lady Bears came back and won the first four points in singles.

Baylor’s top playing seniors, Nina Secerbegovic, Diana Nakic and Sona Novakova, had three consecutive wins. Also, sophomore Jordaan Sanford played for the first time since her hand surgery and earned Baylor’s fourth win.

“We found a way to win again, and we’ve got to give a lot of credit to our seniors, who have been the backbone of our lineup,” head coach Joey Scrivano said in a press release. “We are really proud of the way Jordaan came out in her first match back tonight and got a huge win. It was really impressive. Right now, we’ve got a team that is competing hard, and we are going to use our off day tomorrow to prepare for a really good Oklahoma State team.”

On Sunday, after Oklahoma State won all three doubles matches to lead 1-0, the Lady Bears stole all six singles matches for the first time since April 11, 2011.

Baylor freshman Megan Horter broke her 12-match losing streak when she won the first singles match of the day by defeating OSU’s Isabel Miro 6-3, 6-1.

“Today was a huge breakthrough for Megan,” Scrivano said. “That was huge for her to come out and get a win like that.

Freshman Ema Burgic then defeated Kanyapat Narattana 6-4, 6-2, giving Baylor its second win.

No. 13 Nakic and No. 22 Secerbegovic added two more points with the score of 4-1. Nakic beat OSU’s No. 120 Sardinha 6-2, 6-3, and Secerbegovic came out with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Malika Rose.

Novakova defeated OSU’s Meghan Blevins 6-4, 6-4, finalizing the win for the Baylor Bears.

“I was just focusing on one point at a time,” Novakova said. “I didn’t want to think about the next game or that we already won, it always matters if we win all six matches but I still wanted to win just as much as if it was close.”

Sanford, competing in her second match since recovery, ended the day’s match with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Mary Jeremiah giving Baylor its sixth consecutive win.

“It feels great just to be out there, “said Sanford. “I’m in pain still but it feels great just being able to compete and help my team.”

Baylor will next host No. 16 Texas A&M at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hurd Tennis Center.