By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
After an extended home stand, No. 10 Baylor men’s tennis traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to face No. 1 Ohio State University on Tuesday. For the third time in the teams’ last four matches, the Bears fell to a top-four team, this time by a score of 4-0 in the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
Coming off of a tough loss to No. 18 University of Arizona, Baylor (5-5) headed into Ohio looking to get back on track. The Bears had already fallen to then-No. 1 University of Virginia, No. 4 University of Michigan and No. 3 Texas Christian University by the time they faced the Buckeyes (12-0).
The night started off with doubles play, and the Bears are undefeated this season when they secure the doubles point, and winless when they don’t. On court one, junior Tadeas Paroulek and freshman Zsomber Velcz took on the No. 25 duo.
While Paroulek and Veltz battled on court one, Baylor played two separate first-time doubles lineups that were no match against OSU. Junior Christopher Frantzen and freshman Luc Koeing quickly dropped their matchup 6-0 on court two. On court three, senior Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi and sophomore Marko Miladinović also dropped their contest 6-0, giving Ohio State the first point of the match.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Ohio State,” head coach Michael Woodson said. “They’re deservedly the No. 1 team in the country. They came out really strong in doubles, but as we moved into singles, I felt like we were able to find a rhythm and put ourselves in some good positions.”
Moving into singles play, the Bears needed everything to go their way, but for the second straight match, the Bears dropped the first set of on all six courts. The green and gold had its back against the wall, and the top-ranked team in the nation shut down Baylor’s shot at a comeback.
The Buckeyes secure their 4-0 win via three singles points in the span of one minute.
First to finish was Koeing on court four, as he lost his first set against the No. 28 singles player 6-1 before battling back in the second set but still losing 6-4.
Then, on court two, Miladinović faced off against the No. 9 singles player, OSU junior JJ Tracy. Miladinović was shutout in the first set 6-0 and then dropped the second set 6-3 just seconds after the Buckeyes secured a point on court four. To finish it off, sophomore Ethan Muza fell 6-3 on court six in his first set and then was shutout 6-0 in the second set to clinch victory for Ohio State.
Unfinished on court one, No. 117 Paroulek lost his first set 6-4, but was ahead 4-3 when play finished. On court three, Velcz was lost his first set 6-4 but was even 3-3 when play concluded. Finally, on court five, Mazzuchi was down 3-2 in his second set after falling 6-4 in the first.
“I think there’s some positives to take from it, but also some learning opportunities that we’ll certainly use moving forward as we get ready for the national indoor tournament,” Woodson said.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Bears as they travel to Chicago, Ill. for the ITA Indoor Team Championships. Baylor will face off with No. 3 TCU in the first round on Friday with first serve scheduled for 9:00 a.m. at the XS Tennis Village.
