By Aidan O’Connor | Sports Writer
No. 19 Baylor men’s tennis broke through in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, defeating Nebraska 4-1 Saturday morning at Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
The NCAA Tournament started with a bang for the Bears (23-10) as they took the doubles point. Graduate student Alexandru Chirita and junior Zsombor Velcz struck first as they coasted through their match, winning 6-2 on Court Three.
“I thought we started out hot on doubles,” head coach Michael Woodson said. “It’s always good, out of the three, to get one where you just get up quick. Alex [Chirita] and [Zsombor Velcz] did that on [Court] Three in doubles. They just kind of ran away with it. That usually relaxes everybody.”
The South African tandem of junior Luc Koenig and sophomore Devin Badenhorst finished things off, winning the second doubles match for the Bears 6-3 to secure the doubles point. Seniors Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen’s match remained unfinished at 5-4.
“Going into singles, [Chirita] punched first on Court Four and just got up big, which was awesome to see,” Woodson said. “We were able to get a couple of early breaks on the other courts as well. Took a couple of quick sets, and then a couple of the sets that really came down to the end and were tight.”
The success carried over immediately into singles as Velcz breezed through his match with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. The Bears then hit a road bump with sophomore Louis Bowden losing his match 6-1, 6-1.
“[Chirita] had gotten up a break lead in the second, and so did [Brostrom Poulsen],” Woodson said. “They were able to pull out those sets pretty clean. Even though it was pretty competitive on the other courts, it was good to kind of get through there without too much stress.”
The Bears regained their footing, and Chirita extended the lead to 3-1 with a flashy 6-2, 7-5 win. With one more point needed, Brostrom Poulsen committed the final blow against the Cornhuskers (15-10) as he won his match 7-5, 6-4, securing the victory for the green and gold and punching their ticket to the second round.
The Bears will be back on the court for the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament against No. 18 Texas A&M at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
