By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Baylor women’s tennis breezed past BYU, 4-1, Friday at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Austin to advance to the championship round against No. 12 Texas.
“Big 12 tennis is always incredibly physical and competitive,” Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano said after the win. “Having the opportunity to face that level of competition in late January is huge for our team. I’m proud of how the ladies prepared and competed for this tournament. Now, we need to regroup quickly and be ready to embrace another challenge tomorrow.”
It only took two doubles sets for the Bears to take the first point of the day. Sophomore Zuzanna Kubacha and freshman Wenfei Yu scored a 6-4 victory on court three, as did reigning NCAA individuals tournament duo, seniors Cristina Tiglea and Liubov Kostenko, on court one. On court two, freshman Na Dong and junior Kennedy Gibbs were leading their match 6-5 but didn’t finish as the Bears had already clinched the point.
BYU’s Yujia Huang secured the Cougars’ sole point of the day on court one, sweeping Tiglea, 6-2. After that, it was all Bears. Gibbs won in two; Dong and Kubacha did the same, delivering 6-0 kill shots to their respective opponents.
The win moves Baylor to 2-0 on the season after a season-opening win over Harvard. The Bears will advance to play No. 12 Texas at 2 p.m. Saturday in Austin. The Longhorns swept Maryland in the first round on Friday, 4-0.
