By Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
Back in action, Baylor men’s tennis began the 2025-26 season this weekend with the Waco Fall Kickoff Classic at the Hurd Tennis Center.
Anchored by veteran leadership, Baylor opened the season ranked No. 19 in the country, with seniors Luc Koenig and Arman Zamani leading alongside a pair of freshmen, No.1 recruit Blake Anderson and five-star recruit Drew Hedgecoe, who both made their debuts in the green and gold.
“This year we’ve got some older guys, veteran leaders, and I’ve really been impressed by the young guys too,” head coach Michael Woodson said ahead of the tournament. “They have a great mindset — a burning desire to be great individually, and they want this team to be great and accomplish big things as well.”
Looking to open the season on the right foot, the Bears welcomed a competitive Texas field, holding serve against No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 47 Rice, No. 59 SMU and No. 71 Texas Tech.
All four Bears battled through singles play, while the doubles tandems of Koenig/Zamani and Anderson/Hedgecoe began to build chemistry on their home courts.
“The culture is strong right now,” Woodson said.
The tournament opened Friday with Zamani taking on Texas Tech’s Felipe Pagnacco. After dropping the first set, Zamani stormed back with a 6-1 win in the second but fell short in the decisive third, as Pagnacco closed it out 6-2. Hedgecoe followed a similar path, winning the first set before dropping the next two, falling in a third-set tiebreak.
Despite the early setbacks, Baylor didn’t leave the day empty-handed.
Facing the Red Raiders again and looking to flip the script for his teammates, Anderson notched a straight-sets win to secure his first victory as a Bear.
While fans packed McLane Stadium across campus Saturday, Baylor men’s tennis fought its own battles on the courts.
Junior Louis Bowden delivered Baylor’s first win of the day with a straight-sets victory (6-1, 6-4). Anderson and Zamani came up short in their matches, but freshman Hedgecoe fought to the end, edging out a third-set tiebreaker (6-3, 2-6, 7-6).
The opening rounds brought plenty of ups and downs, but Baylor found its footing as the tournament shifted to doubles.
On the final day, the Bears capitalized, with Hedgecoe and Anderson, along with Zamani and Bowden, each posting 8-6 victories over duos from Abilene Christian and Texas Tech before singles play began.
Hedgecoe set the tone for Baylor in singles, grinding past Texas Tech’s Thomas Van Den Dooren and his booming serve. In a back-and-forth first set, the freshman’s return game held firm as he claimed the opener before closing out a straight-sets victory with an 8-6 tiebreaker (6-3, 7-6).
And the weather wasn’t the only thing that stayed hot throughout the afternoon.
Singles play continued in the 12:30 slot, with Anderson, Bowden and Zamani each taking the court. Zamani was the first to finish, rolling past UT Arlington in straight sets (6-4, 6-2). Anderson followed, rallying for a third-set, tie-breaking comeback over Abilene Christian (6-4, 5-7, 7-6). Bowden wrapped things up as the last Bear on the court, battling through three sets of his own (7-5, 5-7, 4-6) before coming up short to close the day and the tournament.
The Bears are slated to play 12 tournaments outside Waco, spanning seven states and featuring several overlapping events.
“I know we will go as far as they want to take us,” Woodson said. “They have a couple of big dates circled. Adding to the ring case is a big one, and what that looks like, they’re still trying to figure out.”
Baylor’s short home stretch in the fall will wrap up Oct. 3–5, when the Bears will host the Big 12/SEC Challenge at the Hurd Tennis Center.
