TUCSON, Ariz. – The 24th-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team fell to the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. Arizona took the first two points of the night from doubles and No. 2 singles. The Bears wouldn’t go down without a fight though, as BU scored back-to-back points and were right with the Wildcats in each third set across four courts.
THE RUNDOWN
Arizona took the first doubles win of the day, as Herman Hoeyeraal and Gustaf Strom defeated Martin Breysach and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen, 6-4, at Court Two. The Bears had an answer, as Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig returned a 6-4 win of their own over Nick Lagaev and Alexander Rozin.
The Wildcats clinched the doubles point with a victory on One, as 11th-ranked Colton Smith and Jay Friend beat Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz, 6-4.
The 34th-ranked Friend took the first match in singles, scoring Arizona’s second point after defeating Velcz, 6-4, 6-2. Putting the Bears on the board, Brostrom Poulsen won a 7-6(4), 6-3, result from Hoeyeraal. Badenhorst, the first-semester freshman, was next for BU as he defeated the senior, No. 63 Strom with a quick third set, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
After taking a 6-4 first-set win at Court One, Paroulek fell to Smith, the fifth-ranked player in the nation, who came back to take Sets Two and Three, 6-3, 6-4, but not without a push from Paroulek. The match was clinched for the Wildcats as Lagaev withstood Koenig, who came back to force a third. Koenig stuck with Lagaev but dropped the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Freshman Louis Bowden was in a blow-for-blow match at Court Six, as the contest went unfinished against Casper Christensen. After falling 6-1 in Set One, Bowden came back in Set Two, 6-3, and abandoned the third set at 3-all.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Michael Woodson
On today’s match…
“It’s one of those classic dual matches with two of the best teams in the country. It was loud and clear that we have as much talent as anybody out there, and I give a ton of credit to Arizona. They had a great crowd and a feisty team. I think it’s exactly what we need to experience. If we’re going to have success at the highest level, they have to be super disciplined and have tons of experience, and so it was it was really good for us to be able to compete against that team, with as many freshmen and sophomores as we have on our roster. We had opportunities in the doubles that we let slip away a little bit and we had some chances there in singles too. Our guys overall kept their hands in the fire and really battled to give ourselves chances. We didn’t take them right at the end, but I thought we put ourselves in a position to win, and that’s all you can ask for on the road against a team like that. We are certainly disappointed to not be able to go to national indoors, but I think this is the type of experience that our team needs to really be motivated to take that next step.”
UP NEXT
Baylor returns home to host a doubleheader with Jacksonville State (2 p.m.) and Nebraska (6 p.m.) on Saturday, Feb. 3.
– BaylorBears.com –