By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor
Baylor men’s tennis struggled in its opening weekend of conference play. The Bears dropped a 4-2 decision against No. 16 Oklahoma on Friday and a 4-3 decision at No. 14 Oklahoma State on Sunday.
On Friday, the Sooners jumped ahead early in doubles by collecting a 6-0 win on court one. However, the Bears responded with freshmen duo of Sven Lah and Roy Smith taking a 6-2 victory on court three. Sophomore Constantin Frantzen and freshman Akos Kotorman secured the doubles point for Baylor with a 6-2 set win on court two, giving the Bears an early 1-0 lead.
Oklahoma evened the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win on court one to open singles play. Frantzen then collected a 6-2, 6-4 win on court five putting Baylor up 2-1.
But the Sooners would then win the final three to take the match 4-2. Oklahoma picked up a 6-3, 7-5 win on court six, a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 on court three and a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win on court two.
On Sunday, despite a 6-2 win court three from Lah and Smith, the Cowboys took the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 wins on courts one and two.
Baylor evened the match when junior Will Little won 6-2, 6-4 on court three. The Bears then took the lead behind freshman Mattias Soto’s 6-4, 6-4 win on court two.
The Cowboys then notched two straight to take a 3-2 lead over Baylor. It started with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win on court one and a 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-1 win on court five.
But Baylor refused to go away, as Lah evened the match on court four. Lah dropped the opening set 6-7 (5) before taking the next two 7-5, 6-1 to tie the match at three.
The match came down to Kotorman on court six.
Kotorman took the opening set 6-4, but dropped the second set 7-5. After going back and forth in the third set, the match was determined in a tiebreak. However, Kotorman never found his footing falling 7-2 in the tiebreak as the Cowboys earned the 4-3 win.
No. 19 Baylor (17-6, 0-2) will host Texas Tech at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
