By Jarrod Leicher | Reporter
No. 2 Baylor men’s tennis broke their 10-match winning streak, dropping a 5-2 contest to No. 7 Texas on Thursday in its first loss in Waco since Jan. 31. This loss comes nine days before the Big 12 Championship, which will be held in Waco.
In doubles play, Baylor couldn’t quite hit the mark against UT. Senior Constantin Frantzen and junior Sven Lah fell short against Longhorns Eliot Spizzirri and Siem Woldeab, losing the set 3-6 on court one. On court two, senior Nick Stachowiak and junior Matias Soto fought back, narrowly winning against Texas’ Cleeve Harper and Chih Chi Huang 7-6 (7-4). But senior Charlie Broom and sophomore Finn Bass couldn’t fend off UT’s Michal Braswell and Payton Holden, losing 6-7 (7-0) on court three.
Singles started on the right foot for the Bears, with senior Spencer Furman getting a point against Longhorn Evin McDonald, winning 6-0, 6-3 on court six.
“Spencer’s playing fantastic. He’s a rock for us in this lineup and he’s now beaten [McDonald] three times in straight sets,” interim head coach Michael Woodson said. “Don’t expect anything else but excellence from Spencer.”
Pushing Texas to two points, sophomore Adrian Boitan couldn’t quite get a hold of Spizzirri with a score of 3-6, 4-6 on court one. Giving Texas another point, Stachowiak couldn’t quite get on top with a 4-6, 4-6 loss against Woldeab.
Earning the second point for the Bears, Soto squeezed by with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win against Micah Braswell on court two. Guaranteeing the loss for Baylor, with the fourth point for UT, Broom couldn’t comeback in the tiebreaker against Huang losing 4-6, 6-4, 3-6 on court five.
For the fifth point for UT and the game-ender, Lah fought back hard against Harper in a seven-point second set and third set tiebreaker but ultimately coming up short losing 1-6, 7-6, 3-6 on court four.
“It wasn’t our best, but it’s tough to beat a team three times, especially that quality in Texas. I felt like they were hunting us. They wanted it more,” Woodson said.
The Bears will head to Ft. Worth to play No. 6 ranked TCU at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Friedman Tennis Center. They will then head back to Waco for the Big 12 Championship which is slated for April 24-26 at the Hurd Tennis Center.
