By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
The opportunity to host the team that knocked Baylor men’s tennis out of the 2024 postseason was a chance head coach Michael Woodson had circled on his calendar since the schedule was released. Friday night, Woodson and the Bears came inches from earning their revenge before No. 10 San Diego staged a comeback to win 4-3 at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
“We were able to do a great job getting over the hump, we just weren’t able to sustain the momentum on a few courts,” Woodson said. “Against a team like San Diego, it’s going to come down to a point or two here or there. And that’s what happened.”
In the second-ever meeting between the two teams, the green and gold (3-3) came up short while trying to make up for a 4-1 loss to the Toreros (5-0) in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The undefeated California squad trailed 3-1 before stringing together the last three singles points.
“I think every match we’ve played, we’ve gotten better. We feel strongly that we can compete for a national championship,” Woodson said. “I feel good about where the team’s at. The question is, how resilient are they going to be after a tough loss?”
By the time graduate student Alexandru Chirita and sophomore Louis Bowden fell on Court Three in doubles play, 6-3, the green and gold held 4-3 advantages on Courts One and Two. San Diego promptly broke Baylor’s serve on each court to even both sets. Less than five minutes later, each court stared down a 5-4 hole.
No. 3 doubles duo Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen took a swing against the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, on Court One. The Baylor seniors pulled the set back to 5-5 but failed to convert a match point, leading to a 7-5 win for the San Diego tandem and the doubles point.
Sophomore Devin Badenhort and junior Luc Koenig bounced back and evened their doubles set 6-6 but left their doubles match unfinished, trailing the tiebreaker 5-4. After it took more than an hour to decide the doubles point, Woodson’s Bears found their rhythm.
“We did a great job with the bouncing back after the doubles,” Woodson said. “We took another step forward today. We didn’t get over the hump, but obviously, it’s a point or two here or there.”
Despite dropping the doubles point, the green and gold made a statement, winning the first set on all six courts. Using the tight doubles loss to his advantage, No. 58 Brostrom Poulsen put the Bears on the board with a quick 6-4, 6-1 victory on Court Two.
Less than five minutes later, Koenig wrapped up a 6-4, 6-3 win on Court Four to give Baylor a 2-1 lead. After slicing a ball out of his opponent’s reach to claim the point, Koenig threw up his hands and took a bow in front of a rowdy crowd before Brostrom Poulsen ran over and carried him to the net.
Chirita opened singles play with a rocky start, dropping the first two games, but found a rhythm inspired by long rallies and continuous support from Woodson, who stood beside the court. The grad transfer went back and forth with San Diego freshman Adrian Berrut. The first set went to a tiebreaker, and Chirita landed three straight points, including an ace, to seal it 7-6(6).
The early set struggles slammed Chirita once more as he fell behind 0-3. This time, however, he wasn’t content with bouncing back and forth. After Woodson told him to keep his chest high, Chirita swiped the next six games, 6-3, to claim the Bears’ third point.
“He’s getting better every match,” Woodson said. “He really, in some regards, doesn’t understand what’s going on in college tennis, and so it’s fun to be able to kind of work through that with him match after match. He did a great job. He wasn’t [playing his] best tennis a lot of times in the match, and I think he is realizing just how simple it can be, really, to have success.”
In a battle of top-25 players on Court One, No. 15 Tarvet earned San Diego’s lone point in singles play over No. 25 Badenhorst. The Baylor sophomore came out firing and won the first set before any other court but fell behind 0-4 in the second set. Once fatigue set in, Tarvet went for the kill shot. Badenhorst was only able to claim five more games before dropping the match 6-3, 2-6, 3-6.
Playing next to Chirita on Court Three, No. 54 Zsombor Velcz also came up clutch in tiebreaker time against No. 29 Savriyan Danilov. Velcz went tit-for-tat with the top-30 opponent and pulled out a 7-6(3) first set behind two aces to clinch the advantage. The junior found himself with a chance to seal victory for the Bears.
Deadlocked in another 6-6 duel, Velcz and Danilov entered their second tiebreaker. The pair traded serves back and forth before Danilov became the first player to string together back-to-back points, earning him the second set 7-6(7).
After falling behind 1-4, Miladinovic erased the deficit on Court Six and rattled off four straight wins to swipe the first set, 7-5. The senior captain dropped the second set but responded by opening the final set with four straight points. In a comfortable position, the longest-tenured Bear saw his once-large lead drift away as Toreros junior Neo Niedner negated the clinching point with a 5-0 run of his own.
Suddenly on the brink of a loss, Miladinovic trudged his way to a 6-6 stalemate to force a tiebreaker. Although he landed the first point, Niedner broke Miladinovic’s serve and jolted out to a 5-2 lead. Miladinovic dinked and dunked on tired legs as Niedner added too much heat, allowing the Baylor senior to even the third set tiebreaker 5-5.
Niedner scored the next point after a long rally, and with his back against the wall, Miladinovic served up an ace to stay alive. However, after another San Diego point, Miladinovic didn’t have enough gas to gear a comeback, as Niedner earned the third Toreros point, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(6).
Velcz was eying Miladinovic’s match throughout his third set as cramps prevented him from aggressively attacking each serve. The Baylor junior earned the first two games of the set but dropped six in a row to lose the match and earn San Diego a 4-3 win.
“He’s been out for a couple of weeks, and he felt okay to play tonight,” Woodson said. “But fitness is important, and he hasn’t been playing a lot of tennis. Being in a pressure environment like that is not easy… It happens. It wasn’t his fault; it’s just the cards that he was dealt today.”
The Bears will host a doubleheader Sunday, taking on New Mexico at noon and Rice at 5 p.m. at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
