By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor
Baylor men’s tennis continued the trend set by the women’s tennis team Friday morning. The Bears also avenged an earlier 4-3 loss to Oklahoma State on April 8, sweeping the Cowboys 4-0 to advance to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals and earn a rematch with the top-seeded TCU Horned Frogs.
Baylor head coach Matt Knoll said that consistency across the board was huge for the Bears in getting the win over a good Oklahoma State team.
“It was a big step in the right direction. We’ve just got to continue to build on it,” Knoll said. “Everybody was in their match. We haven’t been consistent across all nine spots like we like, but today everybody got in their match. Some guys really focused well and got to the finish line. It’s really gratifying against a team that beat us not too long ago.”
The Bears got off to a great start, cruising on courts one and three to take the doubles point and grab the early lead against the 17th-ranked Cowboys. Junior Johannes Schretter and freshman Akos Kotorman took a 6-2 set win on one and redshirt junior Will Little and sophomore Constantin Frantzen took a 6-3 win on three as Baylor grabbed an early 1-0 lead.
Baylor did not let up, keeping the pressure on in the singles circuit despite a lineup change. Knoll said some fresh blood and fresh bodies was a good thing for the Bears heading into the match.
“We needed to freshen it up a little bit. Today was fun—the guys had fun out there. I think that’s a big part of it. It’s something we can build on,” Knoll said.
Freshman Roy Smith put Baylor in front 2-0 by controlling the match from start to finish, claiming a 6-3, 6-4 win on court five.
Then it was another freshman, Matias Soto, getting the start and win on court two, as he took down sophomore Mathieu Scaglia 6-4, 6-4.
Frantzen was pushed in the opening set, taking it in a tiebreaker 7-2. He then put away the match by claiming the second set 6-3, closing out the match and the win for Baylor.
Fifth-seeded Baylor (19-8) will take on top-seeded TCU at noon Saturday.
