By DJ Ramirez | Sports Editor
The Bears brought the brooms Monday with the No. 15-ranked men’s team grabbing not one, but two 7-0 wins over SMU, and the No. 23-ranked women taking a 7-0 victory over Rice.
Bears clean up against Mustangs
Each of the 12 players who competed for the men’s team against the Mustangs racked up two wins, one in doubles and one in singles, as the Bears pulled out many talents out of their deep roster, extending their home win streak to 30 consecutive matches. Baylor is now 4-0 to start the season and has swept through each of their matches so far.
Third-year sophomore Finn Bass and second-year freshman Alex Garcia got things rolling for Baylor on the doubles court in the morning contest, defeating SMU’s Callaway Clark and John Zisette 6-2 on court two. Second-year sophomores Christopher Frantzen and Sebastian Nothhaft clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win over Jordi Redelijk and Kyle Sillman on court three before former Duke teammates Ryan Dickerson and Spencer Furman rounded out win number three 6-2 against Clarke Wilson and Jan-Simon Vrbsky on the top court.
Chris Frantzen grabbed the first singles win of the day with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kyle Pham, while most of the other matches were still in the first set. Nothhaft quickly followed with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Eddie Ross on court six. Garcia gave Baylor the win with a 7-6(2), 6-2 court four victory over Zisette right before Furman’s straight sets 6-2, 6-2 win over Redelijk on the top court. Bass knabbed a tough win 7-6(2), 6-2 against Clark on court three and Dickerson put the icing on the cake with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Juan Jose Bianchi in the two spot.
While the young guns made quick work of the competition in the morning match, it was experience that anchored the Bears in the night cap. Dartmouth transfer Charlie Broom and fourth-year junior Matias Soto kicked off an exciting doubles round with a 6-3 win on court three over Huntley Allen and Caleb Chakravarthi. With the only loss of the night for the Bears, third-year sophomore Adrian Boitan and Duke transfer Nick Stachowiak fell 7-5 to Liam Krall and Julian Steinhausen on court two.
Making their 2021 debut as a doubles team, the No. 10-nationally ranked duo of fourth-year junior Sven Lah and fifth-year senior Constantin Frantzen put Baylor on the board in a steely 7-6(4) victory against Bianchi and Tomas Vaise on court one.
No. 74th-ranked Stachowiak took the first singles win on court four, defeating Steinhausen 6-2, 6-2 just as No. 66 Coni Frantzen finished a 6-1, 6-4 win over Wilson in the six spot. No. 56th-ranked Soto clinched the win on court two 6-3, 6-4 over Vrbsky. The action went on, however, as No. 46 Boitan held off Chakravati 6-4, 7-6(3) on court one. No. 43 Lah fought through a three set 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(1) battle in the three spot to ice the sweep for Baylor.
Hinojosa wraps up win for Bears in dramatic tiebreaker
Fifth-year senior Jessica Hinojosa was the last player standing in the women’s victory over the Rice Owls with her 75th career singles victory, along with her 50th career doubles victory.
Rice knabbed their only win with a 6-1 doubles victory on court three as the Owls’ Michaela Haet and Federica Trevisan defeated senior Angie Shakhraichuk and freshman Sara Ziodato to start the match. Hinojosa and junior Livia Kraus opened the door for the Bears with a 7-5 win against Victoria Smirnova and Anna Bowtell on court two before juniors Mel Krywoj and Alicia Herrero Linana gave Baylor the doubles point on the top court with a 6-2 win against Diae El Jardi and Maria Budin.
The Bears eased their way through singles matches with a 6-1, 6-0 win by Herrero Linana against Bowtell, a 6-1, 6-1 win by Kris Sorokolet over Budin, and a 6-1, 6-1 win from Krywoj over Smirnova to clinch the match. The rest of the matches played on as Kraus took a 6-1, 6-4 win against Trevisan in the four spot and Shakhraichuk battled for a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) victory on court six against El Jardi.
Hinojosa finished the sweep in a blockbuster three-set tiebreaker against Haet on court two. The senior dropped the first set 5-7 before bouncing back 7-6 (8-6) and winning the tiebreaker 10-6.
Both Baylor teams will head out to compete in the ITA National Kickoff Weekend at the end of the week with the men taking on Michigan Saturday in the opening round and the women facing the Texas Longhorns down in Austin.
