No. 2 Baylor Men's Tennis Overtakes Nebraska, 6-1
LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 2 Baylor men’s tennis program defeated Nebraska on Thursday night in the Dillon Tennis Center, 6-1, to keep their season perfect through two matches.
The Bears (2-0) fought tooth and nail throughout the match with the Huskers (1-1) and came away victorious after winning two of the three doubles matches to take the doubles point, and winning all but one of the singles points.
On the doubles side, the No. 18-ranked pair of Sven Lah and Finn Bass handily won over the Nebraska duo of Dario Huber/Victor Moreno Lozano, winning 6-1. The Huskers came back to win the second match, 6-4, with pair Shunya Maruyama/Rudra Dixit overcoming Cole Gromley and Adrian Boitan. It was Matias Soto and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi who grabbed the doubles point for BU, claiming victory at 6-4 over pair William Gleason/Nic Wiedenhorn.
One point under its belt, Baylor started singles play. Grassi Mazzuchi was the first to finish with a swift win over Calvin Mueller, coming out on top at 6-2, 6-1. Nebraska’s Roni Hietaranta had the only singles point for the Huskers, defeating Cole Gromley, 6-1, 6-3. Third to finish was Finn Bass, who had a good win over Shunya Maruyama, winning at 6-4, 6-1.
The back half of the six singles were started off by No. 48 Sven Lah, who won 6-3, 6-2 over Nic Wiedenhorn. He now has 91 career singles wins at Baylor. Matias Soto followed his fellow senior with a win of his own, winning a superset over Dario Huber at 3-6, 6-4, 10-4. Adrian Boitan finished off the match for the Bears with a grueling battle, ending in a win over William Gleason, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(10-8). It was Boitan’s 50th singles win in his Baylor career.
BEAR BITES
Bears start the season at 2-0
Adrian Boitan had his 50th career singles win, while Sven Lah hit his 91st.
Sven Lah is only two doubles wins away from his 100th.
Head coach Michael Woodson now has 36 wins at Baylor at the helm.
QUOTABLE – Head coach Michael Woodson
“I was definitely pleased with the performance tonight. It’s never easy to go on the road and play a team indoors at their own facility, especially a team as well coached as Nebraska is. What Shawn’s doing there is really impressive. He’s got a young team that’s fiery and confident and getting better. That team is going to make some noise in the Big Ten this year. It was good for us to be tested like that – it came down to a tight doubles point, we were very fortunate to get that. There were a lot of first sets where it could’ve gone either way. They got up a break on a couple of courts and we did too, but it looked like it could go either way. That was really good for us. We’ve had some issues with sickness the last couple weeks, so to be able to get out there and compete and find our games and competitiveness as a team was very valuable. Guys like Juampi, Sven and Finn did a fantastic job of gaining momentum and didn’t let their foot off the gas. It was good to finish with a couple of extra wins there at the end and have a good competitive spirit from the whole team to get Matias and Adrian over the line. That match was much closer than a 6-1 score, it was good for us to compete hard and be pushed on the road. We’re going to be on the road a lot this year, so we need to get used to it. We know what we need to work on and where we can improve, so we’re looking forward to getting back to Waco and getting to work.”
QUOTABLE – Senior Matias Soto
“The score does not demonstrate what happened on the court today, there was a battle from the first point until the end. I felt we brought very good energy from the beginning but there was a moment that Nebraska looked better than us, a bit louder and better scores across six courts. Personally, I found the way I could get closer in the score and I started to play better. It wasn’t easy today competing after having a short amount of time after being sick, but I am very happy with the result. We competed well and finished in great form. This team is working hard to get to our level, and I am very proud of how we compete and represent the green and gold.”
NEXT UP
The Baylor men return to Waco and will open the home slate with Boise State on Monday, Jan. 24, set for 4 p.m. in the Hawkins Indoor.
TENNIS RESULTS
#2 Baylor (6) at Nebraska (1)
Lincoln, Neb. – Dillon Tennis Center
SINGLES COMPETITION
1. Adrian Boitan (BU) def. William Gleaton (Neb) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(8)
2. Matias Soto (BU) def. Dario Huber (Neb) 3-6, 6-4 [10-4]
3. #48 Sven Lah (BU) def. Nic Wiedenhorn (Neb) 6-3, 6-2
4. Finn Bass (BU) def. Shunya Maruyama (Neb) 6-4, 6-1
5. Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (BU) def. Calvin Mueller (Neb) 6-2, 6-1
6. Roni Hietaranta (Neb) def. Cole Gromley (BU) 6-1, 3-6
Order of finish: 5, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1
DOUBLES COMPETITION
1. #18 Sven Lah/Finn Bass (BU) def. Dario Huber/Victor Moreno Lozano (Neb) 6-1
2. Matias Soto/Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (BU) def. William Gleason/Nic Wiedenhorn (Neb.) 6-4
3. Shunya Maruyama/Rudra Dixit (Neb) def. Cole Gromley/Adrian Boitan (BU) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2