By Aidan O’Connor | Sports Writer
Facing the second top-5 team in three days, Baylor men’s tennis pushed No. 2 TCU to its limit but fell short, 4-1, Monday night in the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
In a non-conference meeting between two Big 12 powerhouses, head coach Michael Woodson’s Bears (2-2) set the tone with tight doubles play behind a rambunctious crowd. With emotions high, the Horned Frogs (3-0) quickly felt the pressure in Waco.
“I definitely thought we were more aggressive in doubles, which was something we were really looking to do,” head coach Michael Woodson said.
The green and gold started doubles play firing on all cylinders with each duo taking a 2-0 lead. The momentum soon shifted as TCU clawed its way back on each court. No. 3 doubles duo Marko Miladinović and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen took a crack at the No. 2 duo in the nation on court one. The Baylor seniors lost their early advantage to a 4-4 tie before TCU finished off a 6-4 win.
On court two, sophomore Devin Badenhorst and junior Luc Koenig paired together for the first time all year and also found themselves in a 4-4 stalemate. The Horned Frogs took the next game, but the South African duo stormed back and took the match, 7-5.
With each team winning one double affair, all eyes focused on court three. Nerves were high as the double point went down to the wire. Graduate student Alexandru Chirita and sophomore Louis Bowden’s match went into a tiebreaker as the court two match concluded.
The duos traded points back and forth before TCU strung a pair of points together and landed the set 7-6(9), securing the doubles point and a 1-0 advantage.
“In singles, I mean, we started slow against Wake Forest, we got down on a bunch of courts,” Woodson said. “That didn’t really happen in this match.”
Singles play saw much of the same, with every match staying competitive. TCU went on to take the first singles point with a, 6-2, win over Chirita, extending the Horned Frogs lead to 2-0. With tensions on the rise, Koenig danced with the pressure on court three against No. 12 Lui Maxted.
With the first set in balance, Maxted made a line call that was widely disagreed with. The crowd screamed in disagreement, but Koenig remained locked in and swiped the first set 7-6(6). Maxted quickly responded with a convincing 6-1 win in the second set and led the final set 4-2 before leaving the match unfinished due to a TCU victory on court one.
“I thought we did a really good job overall of competing top to bottom throughout the match,” Woodson said. “Anytime the match goes almost three and a half hours, [you need to] clinch. Clinch. You’ve competed start to finish.”
The first point for Baylor came on court six where Miladinović made up for his double loss with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. This would be the lone point the Bears scored, though, as TCU went on to land points on courts one and two.
“I think that defines great teams how quickly you can bounce back from when something doesn’t go your way. And I was really impressed with how we’ve been the last couple days, coming off the Wake Forest match and going into this match,” Woodson said.
The Bears will be back in action against SMU (5-0) at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas.
