By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
Looking to protect home turf as the last Baylor players standing, No. 2-seeded men’s tennis duo seniors Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen put on a show in front of the friendly Hurd Tennis Center crowd despite dropping their Sweet 16 match, 7-6(7), 4-6, 0-1(5), during the third day of the NCAA individual championships Thursday.
After a comeback win to open their doubles tournament on Wednesday, head coach Michael Woodson encouraged Brostrom Poulsen and Miladinovic to keep fighting against the Texas duo of Timo Legout and Lucas Brown. The Baylor duo started training for the event on June 22 and were the last Bears standing heading into Thursday.
“I know how bad they wanted to win this tournament. And I think for them, it’s hard to feel the result,” Woodson said. “But, what they really care about is the spring and being the best team they can be for our team.”
The Bears leaned heavily on their service game, with the duo combining for a whopping seven aces but also notched four double faults.
Both teams traded games in the first set as each team with the serve won the point all the way up to a tiebreaker at 6-6. The Longhorn duo clamored as they took a 4-1 lead in the first set tiebreaker, but the Bears stormed back to even it up at 6-6. Swapping blows again, Baylor broke through on receive and stole the tight duel 9-7 and the set 7-6(7).
The second brought more of the same early on as the set was tied 3-3 before Brown and Legout broke Baylor’s. Despite three aces in the set by Brostrom Poulsen, the senior showed signs of frustration as he stopped himself from slamming his racquet into the ground after UT snagged a 5-3 lead. The Longhorns went on to win the set as the Bears narrowly won the next game but dropped the final point on a wicked spinning serve, 6-4.
“[Texas] served smart the whole time,” Woodson said. “I thought, really, for the most part, both teams did. I think that’s high-level doubles in college and at the next level. You’re going to have very few chances, and you have to be able to take them. They had an opening in one game in the second set where we didn’t make as many first serves, and they took the chance. And that was the second set.”
Despite a late comeback on Wednesday night, an early 4-1 deficit in the super-tiebreaker was too much to overcome for the senior duo. Miladinovic went on a roll and scored three points, but after evening the tiebreaker 4-4, Texas rallied together the next four and comfortably took an 8-4 lead. Miladinovic spun a return that bounced on the sideline to claw back one point, but a soft tap right in front of the net gave the Longhorns all they needed to put the match away, 1-0(5).
“I feel like they have pretty good chemistry, and they complement each other well,” Woodson said when asked if the duo would play together in the team season. “So I think we’re probably going to see some more of them in the spring.”
Baylor will continue to host the NCAA individual championships through the finals matches on Sunday. However, with no Bears left in the draw, Baylor men’s and women’s tennis will set their sights on the team slate opening in the spring.
