TUCSON, Ariz. – The 24th-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team picked up its 25th ITA Kickoff Weekend win in as many tries on Saturday afternoon, as they defeated Tulane, 4-1, at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Arizona. The Bears moved to 4-0 and handed Tulane loss No. 1 in their first match of the 2024 spring season after capturing the doubles point and singles wins at Courts Four, Five and Three.
THE RUNDOWN
Baylor struck first with Tadeas Paorulek’s and Zsombor Velcz’s third doubles victory of the spring. They defeated Tulane’s Alex Bancila and Luc Hoeijmans, 6-3. Moments later, Tulane got on the board with a win at the No. 2 spot, as Luka Petrovic and Billy Suarez defeated Martin Breysach and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen, 6-2.
The Bears clinched their third doubles point of the season behind a 6-2 effort from Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig on Court Three, downing the Green Wave’s Benji Jacobson and Sam Scherer.
Singles got out to a hot start, as Koenig raced to finish first, taking Flynn Kuenkler, 6-1, 7-5, for the first singles point of the day. The Green Waves got their first and only point next, as Scherer took Marko Miladinović to 6-3, 6-4 at six.
Brostrom Poulsen brought the Bears within one as he beat Rafael de Alba, 6-3, 6-4. The clincher was taken by Badenhorst after a double tie-break win at Court Three, as he beat the junior Luka Petrovic, 7-6(3), 7-6(4).
Paroulek at Court One and Velcz at Court Two both went unfinished, as their matches were into the third sets.
HIGHLIGHTS
- BU moves to 3-1 in clinching the doubles point this spring.
- Baylor is 25-0 in ITA Kickoff Weekend
- The Bears have their 22nd 4-0 start to a season in program history.
- Devin Badenhorst and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen pick up their third win of the season, tied with Marko Miladinović for the team lead.
- Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz get doubles win No. 3, a team lead.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Michael Woodson
On today’s match…
“The conditions are very different today than they’ve been the last few days we’ve been here. It was very windy, very lively and warmed up very quickly, and I think that made it hard for everybody, not just us but also Tulane. I thought enough of our guys came out and played the right way and in difficult altitude conditions, and that really worked out for us we were able to run away with a couple of doubles matches. In singles, I think we got out to a pretty good start and were able to close out some big points by just being willing to commit to playing forward and I think that’s what we needed to do to get through a scrappy, well-coached team like Tulane today. We’re going to have to take it up a notch tomorrow with whoever comes through, Arizona or Miami, so we’re excited to have another opportunity to face these conditions tomorrow. It’ll only make us better.”
On 25 consecutive wins in ITA Kickoff Weekend…
“It’s a lot of credit to the guys. We’ve had some phenomenal teams here and they come out and they play with a ton of confidence. They rally around each other and, good things happen when they’re able to do that. I’ve seen some very positive steps from last year to this year, and I’m excited to continue to build on it.”
UP NEXT
Baylor awaits the victor of the Arizona/Miami (Fla.) match for tomorrow’s ITA Kickoff Weekend Arizona Region final that will be held at 2 p.m. CT.
– BaylorBears.com –