By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
No. 20 Baylor men’s tennis came to play under the Friday night lights of Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in front of a sea of green and gold.
With clear eyes and full hearts, Baylor (4-1) did not drop a single set in their 4-0 sweep over Tulsa (4-2) after dropping only one set and a tiebreaker to Wisconsin on Jan. 19.
The Bears started clicking right away in doubles. Junior Connor Van Schalkwyk and freshman Blake Anderson were the first to finish, securing the win on Court Three 6-1. Junior Devin Badenhorst and senior Luc Koenig followed right behind with a 6-2 victory on Court One to give Baylor a 1-0 lead.
“We brought a lot of energy from the start of the match,” Anderson said. “I have a good partner in Connor, one of my best friends. It’s so awesome to go on the court as a freshman with him.”
Energy out of the gate is exactly what head coach Michael Woodson wanted to see from his team.
“My goal for them was to set the tone competitively, especially in the doubles,” Woodson said. “We’ve needed to work on communication … We worked hard on it, and I was impressed with how we started today.”
Van Schalkwyk rolled with his fast-paced play. He was the first to finish his singles, setting the tone with a 6-1, 6-1 win. He cruised from the service line with multiple aces to propel him to victory.
“We’ve been really working on him managing his time a little bit better, and you may not recognize it because of how fast he plays relative to the other guys,” Woodson said. “He doesn’t understand how big of a server he really is, but it helps him out a ton because he’s a very consistent player.”
Graduate Alexandru Chirita battled in a tight first set on Court Four, tied 4-4. He pulled away in the last two games to win the set 6-4 on a break point. Chirita took care of business in the following set to win 6-4, 6-1.
Junior Louis Bowden capped off the dominant 4-0 win for Baylor. He did not drop a game on Court Six, defeating Tulsa’s Victor Tosetto 6-0, 6-0.
Woodson felt his team’s energy did not fade throughout the match.
“[We] started super fast and then all of a sudden, the other guys started to find their footing,” Woodson said. “We did a really good job of playing to our strengths and then not letting go of the momentum.”
The Bears have won their last four matches, but they have a tall task ahead of them over the next month. They will face off against No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 4 TCU and No. 8 Texas A&M, who eliminated Baylor last season.
“They’re very relaxed and confident in themselves,” Woodson said. “We’re going to play a lot of really good programs here over the next couple weeks, and I’m excited for them to have that challenge and see how they respond to it.”
Baylor will travel to Forth Worth to take on rival TCU on Thursday at Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
