By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
The last time NCAA Tournament matches were played in Waco, Baylor men’s tennis made a run to the quarterfinals, winning three straight on home court by a combined 12-5 score before falling to No. 6 seed Tennessee.
After four years of hitting the road for the postseason, No. 10 seed Baylor (22-9, 6-2 Big 12) is set to host the first two rounds in the national bracket.
“It makes a huge difference,” head coach Michael Woodson said. “Our training schedule is consistent. They get to sleep in their own beds. We’ve had a ton of success at home this year.”
The Bears dominated at home, boasting a 15-2 record in Waco. They tallied victories over five top-15 teams, headlined by a 4-2 win over then-No. 1 Ohio State on March 5. Their only two defeats came from SMU and No. 4 TCU.
“This is my first time in the four years to host the first two rounds,” senior Zsombor Velcz said. “At the beginning of the year, our goal was mostly to be in the top eight, host the first three rounds … but as the season went, we had some tougher losses, but we are really happy to be the 10th seed.”
The Bears will face off against Tulsa (19-12, 1-1 American) in the first round on Friday. The Golden Hurricanes are riding off an American tournament championship, defeating Rice in the title match 4-1. Baylor holds the season advantage over Tulsa with a 4-0 sweep on Jan. 30.
“We play them every single year. We play in tournaments with them. I think they’re playing incredibly well,” Woodson said. “I watched a lot of their championship run last weekend. It was incredibly impressive.”
The winner between Baylor and Tulsa will face the victor of Auburn (16-10, 6-8 SEC) and Santa Clara (20-4, 6-1 WCC) on Saturday.
This year’s appearance marks the program’s 28th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, with a 43-7 record in the first two rounds. While competing in the postseason has become a constant for Baylor, the players and coaches still join in the excitement of selection Monday.
“The whole time I was a little bit nervous,” Velcz said. “Everyone was curious about the seedings. I didn’t do that much research, where are we going to be, but we knew that if we’re going to be 10, LSU is going to be 7, and that gave us pretty good confidence to go into Friday.”
The Bears will take on Tulsa at 6 p.m. Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
