By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Even Baylor women’s tennis head coach Joey Scrivano said he falls victim to distractions.
With the Big 12 Women’s Championship on the horizon, Scrivano, a long-time Boston Celtics fan, said he has to take the same approach the players do in order for the team to find success. The Celtics are currently in the midst of a potential NBA-title run in the 2023 NBA playoffs.
“We just have to do us and do everything we can to just be in the present,” Scrivano said. “There’s a lot of distractions. The Celtics, that’s my big distraction. When I’m trying to watch film, choosing a Celtics game or watching film. I have to do the same thing that I’m preaching with the players: I have to focus on the task at hand.”
The Bears (15-12, 3-6 Big 12) were given a No. 7 seed Tuesday and will open the conference tournament against No. 10 seed Kansas State University at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Jayhawk Tennis Center in Lawrence, Kansas.
Baylor enters postseason play coming off a 4-1 loss to the nation’s tenth-ranked team, the University of Texas, which was on Saturday in Austin. The Bears were on a four-match winning streak before the setback to the Longhorns, including a 4-1 Senior Night victory over Southern Methodist University on April 10.
Even though Baylor dropped the season finale to Texas (18-4, 8-1 Big 12), Scrivano said the team has shown growth and found ways to keep learning.
“They’re kind of finding themselves, and that takes time,” Scrivano said. “It’s a young team, we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores. … Momentum is good right now, so we’ll take it.”
Fifth-year senior Paula Barañano added the main reason the squad’s been able to find its groove is maturity.
“We’re playing better, I mean, we train a lot, so we know we’re playing our system, trusting each other more, connecting on all the courts,” Barañano said.
Barañano, who went 17-18 in singles play this season, has been one of Scrivano’s leaders for a roster that routinely plays several underclassmen. As the group steps into a tournament setting, Scrivano said it’s important to have that top-end experience to lead the younger athletes through nerves.
“She’s seen it all,” Scrivano said. “She’s just calmer. She’s just handling her business really well. She’s just being a really good role model for the team and not panicking when things get hard. … Her ability to just stay in the moment has improved tremendously. I think the other players are seeing that and trying to emulate that as well.”
In terms of the team’s opponent, the Wildcats (2-19, 0-9 Big 12) don’t present a dominant resume. But when the two programs matched up on March 19 in Manhattan, Kan., KSU pushed Baylor pretty hard. The Bears came away with a 4-2 win, but Scrivano said he knows “they pushed us.”
He said it’ll be key for the squad to not overlook Kansas State, even though its record is not intimidating.
“They’re a team that’s scratching and clawing and trying to finish their season on a high note,” Scrivano said. “We know that they’re going to come after us and they’re not going to back down.”
When Baylor hits the court Thursday, it’ll be playing for a Big 12 title along with trying to boost its résumé in hopes that it gets an NCAA Tournament berth. Since Barañano arrived on campus, the team only missed the NCAA Tournament, which was in 2019. Scrivano’s 2020 squad also missed postseason play due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the spring sports that season.
Barañano said she has her eyes on the prize and that the team will be fired up for the tournament Thursday morning.
“The tournament is also always special for us,” Barañano said. “It’s been a goal for me to win at [the] Big 12 [Tournament], so I know the girls are going to give their best for me, for the super senior, for the last tournament.”
