By Ben Everett | Sports Writer
No. 29-ranked Baylor men’s tennis went 2-1 over the weekend at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge in Indian Hills, Calif.
On Friday, the Bears picked up a 4-3 win over South Florida to open their tournament run.
In doubles, freshmen Sven Lah and Roy Smith teamed up to take down Jourdan Kast and Sean Burnette 6-0 before sophomore Constantin Frantzen and freshman Akos Kotorman defeated Jakub Wojcik and Peter Bertran 6-3 to clinch the doubles point for the Bears.
Junior Will Little fell to Pierre Luquet 6-2, 6-1, but Frantzen notched a 7-5, 6-2 win over Wojcik to gibe Baylor a 2-1 lead.
The Bulls took a 3-2 lead after sophomore Bjoern Petersen and Lah each fell in their respective singles matches.
In the final two matches, Kotorman defeated Burnette 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, and freshman Matias Soto clinched the match for Baylor with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6) win over Grayson Goldin.
Baylor head coach Matt Knoll said he was impressed with Soto’s clutch play in the win.
“For Matias to fight off all those match points after having some of his own and being up a couple of breaks easily, I’m proud of him for not getting discouraged,” Knoll said. “He was able to continue to chug along, and sometimes when you do that things go your way.”
On Saturday, Baylor fell to California 4-2 after losing four of five singles matches.
In doubles, Lah and Smith teamed up to defeat Dominic Barretto and Can Kaya 6-4 and Kotorman and Frantzen gave the Bears a 1-0 lead with a 7-5 victory over Ben Draper and Jack Molloy.
Frantzen then faltered the opening singles match 7-6(4), 6-2 to Draper before Petersen fell to Billy Griffith at the No. 1 spot 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to give Cal a 2-1 lead.
Lah picked up a three-set win over Barretto to tie the match up at 2-2, but late losses by Soto and Smith gave the the Golden Bears the win.
On Sunday, the Bears finished up their run at the BNP Paribas Challenge with a dominant 5-0 win over Tulsa.
Lah and Smith picked up their fourth straight win with a 6-1 victory over Joshua Goodger and Boriss Kamdem and junior Johannes Schretter and Little clinched the doubles point for Baylor with a 6-1 win over Majed Kilani and Lucca Baptista.
The Bears dominated singles play, with Frantzen defeating Louis Corker 6-0, 6-0 and Schretter taking down Lucca Baptista 6-2, 6-0 at the No. 3 spot to give Baylor a 3-0 lead.
Kotorman and Lah each picked up straight set wins as the Bears finished off the Golden Hurricane 5-0.
Knoll said the Bears did a great job rebounding from Saturday’s loss.
“The guys did a super job today,” Knoll said. “We’ve faced adversity with some guys being sick when we first got here. They did a super job of bouncing back from a tough loss yesterday. The match went well. It gives us momentum moving into the next match.”
Baylor looks to sweep the season series against Tulsa as they host the Golden Hurricane at 3 p.m. Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
