By Harper Mayfield | Sports Writer
After dropping one spot in the national polls, the no-No. 3 ranked Baylor men’s tennis team brought No. 15 Arizona to Waco on Wednesday, marking the Bears’ third ranked win in a row. Baylor took down the Wildcats 5-2, moving their record to 17-3 on the season. This season marks the third time in the last five seasons that Baylor has notched such a record. Coming into the match, the Wildcats had won 13 in a row and were one of the hottest teams in America.
The Bears took each doubles match decisively, with none being closer than 5-3. Matias Soto and Nick Stachowiak beat UA’s Carlos Hassey and Alejandro Reguant 6-2, while Finn Bass and Charlie Broom topped Filip Malbasic and Gustaf Strom 6-3. Bass and Broom grew up together in England, and playing together in college has been a blessing for both.
“It’s really special to play with Charlie,” Bass said. “We represent the same county in the UK, so we’ve known each other for a long, long time. To finally get out on the doubles court together was really good. I think we played well. We came out with really good energy today, but I think we’ve got a lot more to give as a pair. I think it’s the start of a really special partnership, and I look forward to what’s to come.”
Interim head coach Michael Woodson was impressed with the duo in their doubles debut.
“It was great energy from the two of them,” Woodson said. “They’ve been working hard together this past week, and it’s been fun to see their development. They go all the way back to 8 years old … They had immediate energy and clicked really well.”
In the closest doubles match of the afternoon, Constantin Frantzen and Sven Lah won 5-3 over Jett Middleton and Jonas Ziverts. In matches in which Baylor receives the doubles point, Baylor is 14-1.
On the singles side of things, Baylor also found significant success. Adrian Boitan defeated Ziverts in two sets. Lah went to three sets with Strom, but wasn’t able to pull out the win. Broom got a dominant win over Hassey, never dropping more than two games in any set. Soto came out on top of a competitive match with Malbasic, getting the win in three sets after a final set win of 6-2. Stachowiak took an extra game in the second set to get a win over Reguant, finishing 7-5 in the final set. In the sixth singles match, Arizona’s Nick Lagaev got a hard-fought win over Spencer Furman in three sets.
Baylor tennis will be back on the courts on Sunday to face off with Louisiana-Lafayette and Dallas Baptist, the second of a three-match home stint. The matches are slated to start at noon.
