By Cody Soto
Sports Writer
If No. 6 Baylor women’s tennis had any worry about competing in two matches within hours of each other, the team could just look up at the scoreboard and take that worry away.
The No. 6-ranked Lady Bears (4-0) obliterated Pittsburgh and Texas-Pan American 7-0 on Friday afternoon at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center for the first and second sweep of the season.
“Overall, we competed really hard,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “It was a long day, a lot tennis. I really proud with how we focused for the duration of the five or six hours of tennis.”
Scrivano mixed up the lineup and rested senior Ema Burgic and sophomore Blair Shankle while adding some of his young guns to the singles pool. To start out the meet, both Baylor and Pittsburgh won its respective matches on courts one and three, and the deciding match was one court two.
Freshmen Kelley Anderson and Theresa Van Zyl took a big 6-3 win over Lolade Ogungbesan and Callie Frey to give Baylor the doubles point and the 1-0 lead early in the match.
All six Baylor players saw success in their singles matches. Junior Kiah Generette blew past Ogungbesan 6-0, 6-1 while freshman Leolia JeanJean took a 6-3, 6-0 win on court four.
Putri took a 6-4, 6-1 win at the No. 6 spot, and the next two out of three matches went to a third set ultimate tiebreaker. Baylor claimed victories in every single match for the clean sweep.
“It was a great opportunity to rest Ema and Blair, and in doing that it allowed us to give Kely Putri and Theresa Van Zyl an opportunity to get in the lineup,” Scrivano said. “That experience is invaluable. They need experience in January because you never know when they’re going to be called upon.”
Less than two hours later, Baylor changed its uniforms and faced Texas-Pan American for its second match of the day. The opponent may have changed, but the result stayed the same. The Lady Bears jumped on an early 3-0 sweep in doubles play to claim the point and lead 1-0.
JeanJean was the first Lady Bear to claim a victory on court four as she defeated Reegan Greenwood 6-0, 6-1. Second later, Generette took an exciting 6-1, 6-1 victory over Katia Stavroulaki. The winning just kept coming for Baylor, and Van Zyl finished off the doubleheader with the 6-4, 6-1 win on court five to give Baylor a clean 7-0 sweep over the Broncs.
The hard work isn’t over yet for the Lady Bears this weekend. Another doubleheader is on the horizon, this time with a top 25 opponent on Sunday afternoon. The four-match weekend hasn’t looked to bother any of the athletes, and they will put to the test once again on Sunday.
“These girls really enjoy winning, so I don’t think they mind,” Scrivano said. “As a coach, you’ve just got to keep them focused on the process and task at hand and not let the outcome become the focus.”
Baylor faces No. 25 Tulsa and Incarnate Word at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. Match times are set for 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Waco.
