By Elisabeth Tharp | Broadcast Reporter
It was a fantastic weekend for No. 12 Baylor men’s as the Bears picked up two wins.
Baylor started off the weekend by defeating Purdue 5-2 Saturday afternoon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center, improving to 7-0 all-time against the Boilermakers.
In doubles play, No. 45 sophomore Bjoern Peterson and junior Jimmy Bendeck earned the first win of the day with a 6-1 win over Stephen Koenigsfest and Javier Rodriguez at the No. 2 spot. Then, freshman Matias Soto and sophomore Constantin Frantzen secured the doubles point when they took down Dominik Sochurek and Maksymillan Raupuk on court three, 6-4.
In singles play, Peterson started the Bears off strong by defeating Stephan Koenigsfest on court two, 6-2, 6-1. Soto then added another point after he succeeded against Mateo Julio at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 6-3.
Junior Will Little settled the match after he maneuvered Maksymillan Raupuk 6-2, 6-4, on court three. Playing out the other matches, Frantzen earned a singles victory as he subdued Javier Rodriguez at the No. 5 spot, 6-4, 7-6(3).
Purdue earned its only points of the match when Gergely Madarasz defeated No. 24 junior Johannes Schretter, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, on court one and Athell Bennet defeated Bendeck, 6-7(4), 6-4, 1-0(7), on court six.
Keeping the momentum going, on Sunday, Feb. 11, the Bears defeated the University of South Florida 4-0 at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center remaining perfect at home this season.
In doubles play, freshmen freshmen Roy Smith and Sven Lah dominated and took control of the court in a 6-0 win over Sean Burnette and Pierre Luquet at the No. 3 spot. While No. 45 Petersen and Bendeck were withstanding with the 57th-ranked doubles team in the country on court two, No. 12 Schretter and Little recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win 6-4 against Grayson Goldin and Alberto Barroso-Campos for the doubles point.
The 12th-ranked doubles duo in the country, Schretter and Little, won five of their last six games to clinch the doubles point, 6-4.
In singles play, Frantzen got things started off with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Sean Burnette on court six. Frantzen moves to 4-0 in dual-match singles play and 2-0 at the No. 6 spot.
After his win with his opening set, No. 89 Lah earned his fifth-straight win with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Pierre Luquet on court four. Lah is now 5-0 during the dual-match season.
Lah remains perfect in dual-match singles play at 5-0. He also got his first win as a ranked singles player against USF.
After falling behind in the opening set, No. 64 Petersen fought back and ended up settling the match with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Grayson Goldin at the No. 2 spot.
Baylor improves to 5-0 all-time against South Florida.
After this eventful weekend, Baylor now has an eight match home-winning streak dating back to last season’s NCAA First and Second Rounds.
The Bears wait for their draw of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, set to run Feb. 16-19 in Seattle, Wash.
