Travis Taylor | Lariat Photo Editor
By Ryan Hannegan
Reporter
No. 7 Baylor men’s tennis took down Incarnate Word and No. 73 Purdue 7-0, 6-1, over the weekend.
The Bears (4-0) have extended their win streak to four with two wins over the weekend.
“We’re just trying to build some momentum for what’s coming up,” head coach Matt Knoll said. “We just have to continue to improve for what’s ahead of us down the road.”
Against Incarnate Word, Baylor began the match in dominant fashion, sweeping all three doubles matches.
The Bear duos of Patrick Pradella and Mate Zsiga, Vince Schneider and Robbie Korth, and Julian Lenz and Robert Verzaal, combined to win 6-1, 6-3 and 6-5.
The Bears continued to roll in singles action. No. 2 Lenz gave up only four first set points to defeat Ivic, 6-0, 6-2. Robbie Korth was the next Bear to win his match 6-0, 6-1 over Antonio Cavazos.
“I think Robbie did a great job,” Knoll said. “Robbie was exceptional. He really handled his business and his focus was great.”
Schneider and Zsiga closed out their matches 6-3, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively.
Senior Robert Verzaal finished off the Bears 7-0 victory getting past Antonio Cavazos 6-3, 6-2.
Verzaal knew that his team was going to have to step up with a couple teammates out of the lineup.
“It’s always a bit tougher when you know your best players aren’t playing,” Verzaal said. “To have everyone stay in the lineup and win their match pretty convincingly, it’s always a good thing. It shows you have depth on your team and obviously we have to keep up our reputation as Baylor.”
The Bears remained perfect for the year with a 6-1 victory over the No. 73 Purdue Boilermakers.
Baylor claimed its fourth straight doubles point of the season with wins on courts two and three. Mate Zsiga clinched the match deciding point, to earn an upset victory over No. 96 Ricky Medinilla 6-1, 6-4.
“I think the whole team did a good job,” Zsiga said. “We made good decisions in both singles and doubles. Purdue is a good team. They made it tough on us in a few spots, but I think we handled it good.”
Baylor claimed the last two points with victories from Patrick Pradella (6-1, 6-5(7)) and Vince Schneider (6-0, 4-6, 6-1).
In women’s tennis, the No. 19 Lady Bears were shut out against No. 2 Florida, 7-0 on Saturday.
In doubles, the Gators claimed the point, winning 6-0 against Jordaan Sanford and Alex Clay and defeating the No. 38 duo Victoria Kisialeva and Blair Shankle, 6-3, on court one.
In singles play, Florida took control of all six matches. To start off, No. 36 Woolcock beat Alex Leatu, 6-0, 6-2, shortly before No. 27 Oyen defeated Shankle, 6-1, 6-1. Soon after, Kisialeva fell to No. 23 Alexandra Cercone, 6-0, 6-2, and Sanford lost to No. 18 Brianna Morgan, 6-3, 6-0. No. 39 Keegan claimed her win over Makenzie Craft, 6-4, 6-1 on court five.
To end the match, No. 38 Kiah Generette fought against No. 17 Olivia Janowicz pushing her to a third set, but ended up on the short end of the match 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-3.
“They’re a really good team,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “They just outplayed us. Winning is really hard in tennis, especially when you’re playing people like Janowicz. Coming into this match we were fully aware of what Florida was going to do to us. They are going to make life miserable on every point.”
The Lady Bears will be back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday versus Rice at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center. The men’s tennis team will continue play on Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center to start the first of three double-headers of the season. The Bears will get started against Cameron at 2 p.m., followed by Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m.
