By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor
When senior Cristina Tiglea transferred to Baylor from Texas Tech over the summer, she wanted to play in big moments.
Tiglea did just that, clinching a 4-3 Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals victory for the fourth-seeded Bears over No. 5 seed Arizona Friday afternoon at the Hurd Tennis Center.
“I always tell the girls, everyone knows that I was born for this moment,” Tiglea said. “I was saying to (assistant coach) Lenka (Broosova), ‘This is my time and I want to win it because I want the team to succeed.’ And I enjoyed it. I wasn’t honestly nervous at all because I knew that this match was coming to me.”
Head coach Joey Scrivano’s squad stared defeat in the eye, trailing 3-2 before freshman Nanaka Sato landed the evening point on Court Six and Tiglea landed the final blow on Court Two.
“Our foot was in the trap,” Scrivano said. “They had us, they had us beat and they couldn’t put us away. And that’s a lot of credit to our team. Our team just would not quit at all — and especially that last match — Cristina just is a warrior. She’s a warrior, and that’s why we were really excited she became a Baylor Bear.”
In a delayed 3 1/2 hour match, Baylor (20-4) controlled doubles play from the first serve and left nothing to chance early. Sophomore Zuzanna Kubacha and junior Sierra Berry cruised to a 6-0 sweep on Court Three, and No. 31 seniors Liubov Kostenko and Tiglea clinched the doubles point soon after with a 6-2 win on Court One.
Freshmen Wenfei Yu and junior Na Dong left their match unfinished on Court Two, trailing 5-3.
“Well, that double point is huge,” Scrivano said. “It’s just one point, but that one point made a big difference today, and I was really proud of the way the team prepared for this match. But in that doubles point, we were really on top of them.”
But as soon as Baylor found a groove, it was stuck in a rut. Four Bears dropped their first set of singles play, and advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 2021 was in jeopardy.
Dong was the only Bear to win in two sets, coming away with a 6-4, 6-2 win on Court Four to remain undefeated in singles play this season (12-0). The Bears failed to win on an odd-numbered court from then on out and fell behind 3-2.
Kubacha (4-6, 3-6) and junior Kennedy Gibbs (4-6, 4-6) couldn’t roll the doubles momentum into singles, falling on Courts Three and Five, respectively. Kostenko fought in the first two sets, but inconsistent service muddied the waters, losing 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 on Court Three.
Sato continued her winning ways in singles play, using a strong first set to down her Wildcat (19-10) opponent 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The freshman has yet to lose a singles match, appearing in 15 and winning 11, with the other four left unfinished in the third set.
“Since we’ve put her in the lineup, she’s been a spark for our team,” Scrivano said. “She’s been kind of the X-factor at that position. So, we’re just thankful she’s a Baylor Bear and she’s not on another roster, because she’s made a big improvement to our team down the stretch.”
All eyes were on Tigela to finish the event as her match was the last one standing for 20 minutes. Sitting at even at 4-4 in the third set, the veteran broke serve and rallied to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
“I always got inspired by Kobe Bryant, and I really like what he said yesterday in this video [I saw],” Tiglea said. “He said, ‘The Mamba Mentality is like finding the best version of yourself.’ And I found it today, and I hope to find it tomorrow still.”
Since winning the Big 12 Championship title 12 times in 13 years, the Bears haven’t won the tournament since 2015. They will take on No. 1 seed Texas Tech (20-2) in the semifinals at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
