Views From The Brazos: Baylor Tennis in the Sweet 16
Relive the Bears' thrilling 4-3 win over No. 18 Stanford Cardinal with our courtside footage above!
Recap courtesy of Baylor Athletics press release
WACO, Texas – Third-ranked and No. 3 national seed Baylor defeated No. 18 Stanford, 4-3, on Friday night at the Hurd Tennis Center in the Round of 16 after being down 3-1.
The Bears (29-3) took out the Cardinal (19-6) to advance to the Elite Eight. It is the third year in a row with BU making a quarterfinal appearance and the 15th time in program history.
Baylor improves its record in the NCAA Tournament to 62-21 and 34-1 when playing at home.
The Bears will head to Champaign for the Elite Eight, the match taking place on Thursday, May 19.
THE RUNDOWN
Baylor dropped the doubles point for the first time in the last 10 matches, falling on courts one and three. Stanford’s Tim Sah and Max Basing won, 6-3, over Adrian Boitan and Tadeas Paroulek to start it off, then No. 41 Axel Geller and Tomas Kopczynski bested No. 4 Sven Lah and Finn Bass on court one, 6-3. No. 9 Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi and Matias Soto were down, 4-5, when the point was won.
In singles, the Bears kept up with the Cardinal from the get-go. Finishing first was court three, with Stanford’s No. 80 Max Basing besting No. 73 Lah, 6-1, 6-1 to make it 2-0 in the Cardinal’s favor. No. 5 Boitan put the first Baylor point on the board with his 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 15 Fery on the top court. No. 112 Geller made it 3-1 Stanford with his 6-3, 7-6(6), victory over No. 36 Soto on court two.
Down but not out, the Bears started the comeback. On the bottom courts, BU kicked it into high gear. No. 58 Paroulek won the first set, 6-3, over Sangeet Sridhar, and took it into a tiebreaker into the second set. He came out on top with a 7-6(5) decision in the second set to give the Bears another point. Now with the match at 3-2, Bass was in a third set with No. 78 Rotsaert on court five. He took the match, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to tie up the match at 3-3 when moments later Grassi Mazzuchi clinched the match on court six, 7-5, 7-6(5) over Sah.
QUOTABLE – Head Coach Michael Woodson
“A big shoutout to the fans and our Marketing and Fan Engagement department for the environment and atmosphere we had tonight. It was electric and it made a big impact on the match. [Stanford] came in expecting it to be a hostile environment, and it was. These few matches have been nails, and maybe we win because we’re home. That’s a credit to the great, consistent elite season these players have put together. From there, it’s anybody’s tournament. For us to just have an opportunity to play in the Elite Eight is something special, and we’re going to cherish it and try to take it home.”
QUOTABLE – Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi
“It was unbelievable [clinching the match and seeing the response from the team]. I think this is why we are all here in college, to get the team experience. And after clinching a match like this it’s amazing. I was pretty tight, to be honest, after losing those match points when I was 5-4 up. But yeah, it feels incredible. We know we can get four points anywhere in the lineup. I think after losing the doubles point, of course, it’s tougher. You have to get four points instead of three, but I think we were all confident that we were going to get it done, even though Mati (Soto) and Sven (Lah) lost. I think we did a good job.”
UP NEXT
The Bears will face the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers in the Elite Eight on Thursday, May 19th, in Champaign, Illinois.
TENNIS RESULTS
#3 [3 seed] Baylor (4) vs. #18 Stanford (3)
Waco, Texas – Hurd Tennis Center
SINGLES COMPETITION
1. #5 Adrian Boitan (BU) def. #15 Arthur Fery (STAN) 6-1, 6-2
2. #112 Axel Geller (STAN) def. #36 Matias Soto (BU) 6-3, 7-6(6)
3. #80 Max Basing (STAN) def. #73 Sven Lah (BU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Finn Bass (BU) def. #78 Alex Rotsaert (STAN) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
5. #58 Tadeas Paroulek (BU) def. Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) 6-3, 7-6(5)
6. Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (BU) def. Tim Sah (STAN) 7-5, 7-6(5)
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2, 5, 4, 6
DOUBLES COMPETITION
1. #41 Axel Geller/Tomas Kopczynski (STAN) def. #3 Sven Lah/Finn Bass (BU) 6-3
2. #9 Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi/Matias Soto (BU) vs. Alex Rotsaert/Arthur Fery (STAN) 4-5 unfinished
3. Tim Sah/Max Basing (STAN) def. Adrian Boitan/Tadeas Paroulek (BU) 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 1