By Ryan Hannegan
Sports Editor
The Baylor men’s and women’s tennis teams were both in action on Wednesday picking up wins against ranked opponents.
The No. 7 Baylor men’s tennis defeated No. 25 South Florida 4-0 Wednesday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
Baylor got off to a quick start claiming the doubles point with wins on courts two and three.
“Winning the doubles point gives you so much more confidence,” Dornbusch said. “Especially in matches like today where all the singles matches could have easily gone either way.”
USF claimed its only double match with Roberto Cid and Sasha Gozun getting past Patrick Pradella and Mate Zsiga 8-5 on court one. The Bears answered back with a victory from the duo of Diego Galeano and Michel Dornbusch to force the point to a deciding third match on court three. After no service breaks in the game, Juilian Lenz and Vince Schneider eventually got past Oliver Pramming and Ignacio Gonzalez in a tiebreak 8-7(5), to give Baylor a 1-0 lead heading into singles matches.
“We got beat up pretty bad at one and found a way to win,” head coach Matt Knoll said. “I thought they served aggressively and hung around. Vince missed the easiest ball in tennis in the tie-breaker, but then to his credit he hit the most massive forehand return. I think a lot of guys would get tentative after missing a ball like he missed. He got excited and a little over-juiced, but it was a good job to come back and win the point.”
Dornbusch was the first Baylor player to finish in singles, recording a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Soon after, Mate Zsiga wrapped up his match on court four against Vadym Kalyuzhnyy with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
“To be honest it was a little bit personal to me,” Zsiga said. “At the beginning of the year, the first couple of matches, I just didn’t play the way I needed to. I had several losses, which inspired me to get better. I just got back to my old strengths, not missing balls, good backhand and playing the forehand high so I don’t miss. That is what I can do. If it takes me five or six hours to wear him down I can do it. I can be there as long as it takes.”
The Bears claimed the match clinching point from No. 7 Lenz who got past Pramming 6-3, 6-4.
The No. 16 Baylor women’s tennis team took down No. 56 TCU, 4-3, on Wednesday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
In doubles, the Lady Bears came out and dominated on all three courts. The Baylor tandem of Kiah Generette and Ema Burgic captured the first victory over TCU’s Sofiko Kadzhaya and Millie Nichols on court two, 8-4. Alex Clay and Blair Shankle’s 8-6 win against Simona Parajova and Monike Sirilova clinched the doubles point for Baylor. To finish out doubles play, the Baylor duo of Victoria Kisialeva and Jordaan Sanford defeated Seda Arantekin and Stephanie Tan, 8-5, on court one.
“TCU is always a tough opponent for us,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “Today they pushed us until the very end. I love these types of matches because they shape your character and team identity. The doubles point was a big factor today. We did an outstanding job of bouncing back from a slow start. Our focus and toughness was excellent at all three positions.”
In singles, Baylor added three more points to the board. Clay struck first by blowing past Sandra Ibarra, 6-0, 6-0, on court six.
TCU cut into the lead as Monika Sirilova beat Makenzie Craft, 6-0, 6-2. Sanford has not lost a match since Feb. 15 and the win improved her record to 16-2 in dual-match play.
To clinch the victory, Blair Shankle captured her 10th-straight win with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory on court four.
With the match decided, Baylor droppeds the final two matches of the contest for the final 4-3 tally.
The Lady Bears will travel to Lawrence, Kan. and continue conference action against Kansas at 3:30 p.m. on Friday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center
The men’s tennis team will now start Big 12 play by hosting No. 28 Texas Tech on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center.
