Men’s Tennis
The Baylor men’s tennis team kicked off the ITA National Team Indoor Championships this weekend with a 5-0 loss to Ohio State on Friday.
Although Baylor won one of its doubles matches with senior Julian Lenz and redshirt freshman Will Little, the other two Baylor matches could not secure a victory.
Entering singles play, the Buckeyes clinched the match after senior Felipe Rios, freshman Tommy Podvinski, freshman Jimmy Bendeck and Little each lost their matches.
The final two matches were left undone after Ohio State secured the victory.
On Saturday, the Bears looked to redeem themselves, yet fell short again in a 4-3 loss to Texas Tech.
Baylor took the lead early by securing the doubles point with victories from the teams of Lenz and Little, followed by Rios and Bendeck.
However, Tech quickly turned around and won the bottom three matches of singles play to put themselves in the lead at 3-1.
Baylor battled back after junior Max Tchoutakian and Rios each secured singles victories to tie the match at 3-3. But Baylor could not hold on as Lenz fell in his final set to give Texas Tech the 4-3 victory.
The Bears bounced back on Sunday, as they found good fortune in a 4-3 victory over Columbia.
Baylor did not secure the doubles point, and thus began singles play down 0-1.
However Baylor quickly tied the score as Tchoutakian won his match in two sets with scores of 6-3, 6-3.
Columbia then retook the lead after taking down Podvinski and Little each in two sets. These two victories put Columbia in the lead at 3-1.
Rios and Lenz then tied the game with victories, averting the attention to the final match. In the final match, Jimmy Bendeck pulled of the comeback victory to seal the win for Baylor, 4-3.
Baylor head coach Matt Knoll was pleased with his teams effort and was glad to get a win.
“We did a great job today. I was really proud of the guys. It was a lot of fun to wear the uniform today,” Knoll said.
Despite the great team win, Knoll knows that there is still work to do.
“We are kind of a work in progress. The competition is tough,” Knoll said. “We are playing the best schedule in the country and when you play these kind of teams there is not a lot of margin for error.”
The Bears will look toward Saturday when they will face No. 37 Memphis at home at the Hurd Tennis Center.
Women’s Tennis
The Baylor Bears women’s tennis team suffered a 4-0 loss on Saturday versus No. 3 Florida.
The Lady Bears dropped the doubles point as the teams of senior Kiah Generette and freshman Gabriela Ferreira and junior Blair Shankle and sophomore Theresa Van Zyl both suffered losses.
Florida then promptly won three matches to give them the 4-0 victory. Junior Rhiann Newborn, Generette, and Ferreira each dropped a singles match in two sets to give Florida the win.
“Today was an amazing reality check for our players. There is no doubt that Florida has a national championship caliber team right now. And there is no doubt that we’re a team that needs to become stronger at every position,” said Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano.
On Monday, the Lady Bears looked to take on the Miami Hurricanes, but the match was stopped due to inclement weather.
After the Lady Bears lost the doubles point, the rain picked up to the point where the contest could no longer continue. Although the match will count as a 0-0 suspended contest, the two doubles matches that were played will count towards individual records.
The Lady Bears look to take on No. 5 Vanderbilt at home on Saturday.
