Baylor Men's Tennis Wins Two in Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. – Baylor men’s tennis left Oklahoma with a pair of wins on Wednesday, defeating Oral Roberts 4-0 before a 4-2 decision against Tulsa.

Baylor (12-11) took both doubles points from big wins at No. 3 in Christopher Frantzen and Justin Braverman before 11th-ranked Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz clinched the point.

Marko Miladinović went 2-0 in singles, winning points No. 3 and No. 4 on the Bears’ single-day road trip. 

THE RUNDOWN

MATCH ONE

The high noon match on Wednesday was all Baylor, as the Bears swept all four points in just under two hours.

In doubles, Braverman and Frantzen won a 6-1 match over Kevin Leuenberger and Eli Brewer before No. 11 Paroulek and Velcz clinched the point with a 6-3 win on Court One. Court Two finished just moments after the doubles point, but went down as a 5-3 unfinished match in favor of Luc Koenig and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi.

The Bears took all six first sets in singles and were en route to a 7-0 sweep but got the 4-0 match win from points off Courts Six, Two and Four.

Frantzen tallied his third singles win of the season, rolling over Brewer at No. 6, 6-3, 6-0. Miladinović was next, quickly winning a 6-2, 6-1 match over Gustavo Pinho.

Ethan Muza won the clincher over Jonathan Evans on Court Four, taking the 7-5, 6-0 win.

All remaining matches with Paroulek, Grassi Mazzuchi and Koenig were left unfinished, but all favored the Bears in second sets.

MATCH TWO

The Hurricane showed some fight in doubles, but the Bears took the point with another big 6-1 win from Braverman and Frantzen at the third singles spot. Courts One and Two both forced tiebreaks, but Paroulek and Velcz were victorious on one, taking the breaker, 7-2, for the doubles point.

The Bears had the first move in singles, as Grassi Mazzuchi notched career win No. 99. The senior battled for a 6-4 win in set one before dominating the second set, 6-0.

Timothy Carlsson-Seger defeated Muza at the sixth spot with a 6-2, 6-3 result, but the Bears fired right back with an upset win for No. 97 Paroulek over No. 28 Kody Pearson, 6-2, 6-4. Tulsa was right back with another point, as Adham Gaber beat Koenig, 7-5, 6-4.

Just over an hour after BU’s third point, Miladinović forced a third set that went wire-to-wire. The sophomore battled and walked away with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to clinch the match for the Bears.

Velcz also forced a third set on Court Three and was ahead of the Hurricane, 4-2, before leaving the match unfinished.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Woodson

On the ORU match…

“I thought that we got exactly what we wanted out of it. They tested us at every single position, and I thought our guys did a great job at being professional and competing. It was a tough turnaround with how fast we went out there, but they did a great job at getting to work to handle their business.”

On the Tulsa match…

“What an impressive win. Tulsa did a great job of having a hostile and rowdy crowd that made things into just a fantastic college tennis match. It really tested all of our guys on and off the court, up and down the lineup. They came to play, they fought hard and pushed us to the brink, but I'm super proud of our older guys. They went out there and they just handled their business and stretched leads, and then our young guys got put to the test, which was exactly what they needed. We were able to come up with some of the big points when they mattered, and I think that’s going to go a long way for this team. I am super proud of them and ready to get back to Waco to start conference play.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears return to the Hurd Tennis Center on Saturday to open conference play against Texas Tech at 6 p.m. for the nightcap of a doubleheader that opens with UTRGV at 11 a.m.