Baylor Men's Tennis’ Finn Bass Wins Regional Singles Title

WACO, Texas – Baylor men’s tennis wrapped up the ITA Texas Regional Championship on Tuesday afternoon with Finn Bass winning the singles title, the first Bear to win since Sven Lah in 2019.

THE RUNDOWN

It was a breezy lunch hour at the Hurd Tennis Center, but nothing stopped Bass in his dominant first-set performance. In quick fashion, he put a lead on the board and tabbed the 6-2 score in the first set. The beginning of set two was tight, as Texas A&M’s Pierce Rollins evened things out at two games each. But from that point on, Bass kicked into high gear and secured four-straight games to win the match and the singles title, 6-2, 6-2.

As region finalists, both Bass and Rollins qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals, which will be held Nov. 2-6 in San Diego, Calif.

QUOTABLE

Head Coach Michael Woodson

On Finn’s performance in the Regional Tournament…

“I think Finn has been doing the right things for a while now. But you don't always see the fruits of your labor in the time that you would necessarily want it, and certainly doesn't happen overnight. So, it's been really impressive to see him, I would say over the last two years, doing everything he needs to do to give himself the best chance to raise his level, to kind of reach heights that I know he and we feel he can. So, watching what's happening out here over the last couple of weeks doesn't surprise me. We talk about it a lot with the guys of, you don't know when the great results are going to come, but you can't get discouraged when they don't come. You just have to be ready for when that opportunity strikes, because you never know when it is.”

Finn Bass

On today’s match…

“Honestly, it was really cold, even for me as a Brit. We have a chilly breeze here, and obviously playing in windy conditions is difficult. We’re both quite aggressive players. (Pierce Rollins) likes to serve and volley, I like to come into the net as well and play aggressive and quite close to the lines. I think what I did better is I managed to hold my mental ability a bit better than he did in tricky conditions. When it’s cold and the balls are kind of flying, not playing as fast as (the courts) usually would, you just have to play a bit more within yourself. And I just think I did better at that than he did today.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears will compete individually at two ITF pro tournaments to close out the month of October.