By Aidan O’Connor | Sports Writer
Baylor men’s tennis bounced back from a two-game losing streak, notching its 26th consecutive win over SMU, 4-2, Sunday at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas.
The Bears (3-2) secured their first road win of the season over the Mustangs (4-1) after a pair of top-5 losses to No. 4 Wake Forest and No. 2 TCU over the weekend. The green and gold lost the doubles point in each of those matches, but came out swinging on Sunday.
Graduate student Alexandru Chirita and sophomore Louis Bowden struck first, winning their match in dominating fashion, 6-2. The South African phenoms sophomore Devin Badenhorst and junior Luc Koenig went on to win their match 6-3, securing the third doubles point for the Bears this season.
Singles saw much of the same success as doubles, with a strong start from No. 25 Badenhorst with a shutout in his first set and a solid second set that ended up with a 6-0, 6-3 victory. With a 2-0 lead, senior Oskar Brostrom Poulsen added to the green and gold’s lead by landing the third point with a quick 6-3, 6-2 on Court Two. SMU roared back and won the next two points on Courts Three and Four, putting all eyes on Court Five.
Last week, Chirita faced adversity by double-faulting in a tiebreaker during doubles play and dropping his singles match against No. 2 TCU. With a chance to clinch, Chirita found himself in another tiebreaker situation.
Everything came down to a tiebreaker in the second set, with Chritia having a match point up 6-5 in the tiebreaker. With everyone surrounding the court and the crowd roaring, Chirita won the point and the match 6-3, 7-6(5), ultimately landing Baylor its fourth point and securing the Bears’ first road win of the season.
Baylor will return home and prepare for their next matchup against San Diego State at 6 p.m. Friday in the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
