By Aidan O’Connor | Sports Writer
No. 17 Baylor men’s tennis opened conference play with a 4-0 sweep of Arizona State Friday night at the Hurd Tennis Center.
“We dug ourselves too big of a hole last time we played [Arizona State],” head coach Michael Woodson said. “I think this whole week, the guys have been really on edge, we want to take this opportunity and make a statement.”
After losing the doubles point to Arizona State (9-7) at Indian Wells on Sunday, the Bears flipped the script and took the doubles point convincingly. No. 17 Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen opened a 4-0 lead and never looked back, earning a 6-2 win. The story was completely different on the other courts, though, as the South African tandem of Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig fell behind 5-1 but left their match unfinished, trailing 5-3.
Sophomore Louis Bowden and junior Zsombor Velcz were locked into a 2-2 tie before playing to the loud Hurd Tennis Center crowd and snagging a 6-3 win.
“[Velcz and Bowden] did a really good job of getting a tough hold at 4-3, and then not even getting to the point where we had to serve it out,” Woodson said. “I mean, that’s great focus, great bounce back, and so yeah, the doubles point makes a big difference.”
The Bears didn’t skip a beat in singles as graduate student Alexandru Chirita started things off with a dominant 6-3, 6-0 win on Court Four. Koenig struck next, winning 6-4, 6-3, bouncing back from a tough first set where he went up 3-0 and then lost four straight games to be down 4-3.
“We had a little adversity at one and six, which was to be expected, but they were battling back and kind of handled it better as the match wore on,” Woodson said. “To get three straight set wins like we did, and to be serving for the match — Z [Velcz] deserved to finish on Court 3. He had match point, he was gonna serve it out. So yeah, that’s about as clean of a win as you can ask for in a Big 12 play against an NCAA tournament team who’s obviously just beat us.”
Velcz had a match point at 6-2, 5-2 that he wasn’t able to convert, allowing Brostrom Poulsen, who just reached match point moments later, to secure the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
“It’s always amazing to be able to play at home, and these wins are really important if we’re gonna play at home in the postseason,” Woodson said. “So we need to continue to do our jobs and enjoy every one we get.”
The Bears will return to action for a Sunday doubleheader, taking on No. 15 Arizona at 1 p.m. and UT Dallas at 6 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center.
