Singles Surge Pushes No. 25 Baylor MT Past Arizona State, 4-3

TEMPE, Ariz. – Baylor men’s tennis defeated Arizona State, 4-3, on Friday night at the Whiteman Tennis Center. The Bears (3-0) dropped the doubles point but fought back to win the match and hand the Sun Devils (2-1) their first loss of the season.

THE RUNDOWN

The doubles point was clinched by the Sun Devils with wins on Courts Two and Three.

Out first, Court Two came to an end with Bor Artnak and Max McKennon defeating Martin Breysach and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen in a 6-3 result. The Bears punched right back, taking Court One as Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz rolled to a 6-2 win over Murphy Cassone and Martin Vergara Del Puerto.

After a fight, Luc Koenig and Devin Badenhorst fell to Jacob Bullard and Constantinos Koshis 6-4 on court three.

Singles action got rolling with Bears taking first-set wins on Courts Two, Three, Four and Five. With a swift second set, Velcz earned the first point for Baylor as he took Artnak 6-4, 6-1.

Going back-to-back, Marko Miladinović put the Bears over the Sun Devils and earned his third singles win this spring in the process, as he defeated Vergara Del Puerto, 6-2, 6-2, just before Badenhorst finished off senior McKennon, 6-2, 6-4, for his second win as a Bear.

Arizona State got right back into it, as No. 10 Cassone took Court One with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 32 Paroulek. Court Six was next, as sophomore Roi Ginat won 6-2, 6-4, over Louis Bowden.

Court four was the match decider on Thursday night that went down to the wire. Brostrom Poulsen pushed out with a 6-4 first set win, but Bullard fought right back to take set two, 7-6(2). Playing out the full third set, Brostrom Pousen went up a break at 3-1 to then be broken at 3-2. After that, the Middle Tennessee transfer held serve and went on to win the match with a final score of 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3.

HIGHLIGHTS

Devin Badenhorst, Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Zsombor Velcz move to 2-0 in singles play.

Marko Miladinović tallied his third singles win in six days, the team lead.

BU has its 25th 3-0 start to a season in program history.

The Bears are 4-0 in their first away game of the season under Michael Woodson.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Woodson

On bouncing back after dropping the first doubles point of the season…

“We came out passive in doubles and I give ASU a ton of credit. They came out with tons of energy, aggressive movement and aggressive play, and I felt like we got put on our heels. It was competitive, but we leaned back just enough, and they took charge to take the doubles point. I really challenged the guys on their presence after the doubles and was very impressed with how they responded, both on and off the court. We did a good job of rallying around each other. Guys like Marko [Miladinović] and Zsombor [Velcz] and Devin [Badenhorst] jumped out to some big leads early. Devin also has such an impressive effort as a first-semester freshman playing against a senior player with a ton of college experience and wins. He owned the moment and looked the part. Even with Teddy [Paroulek] and Louis [Bowden], they played some good opponents and stayed out there and battled to take pressure off guys. I was very impressed with the overall effort and competitiveness of this group.”

On Oskar Brostrom Poulsen’s deciding match.

Oskar, coming off struggling on Saturday, this was his first three-all match. You couldn’t tell that watching him play though. He played a great match his way, with a great mentality and energy. He committed to himself, and he was able to get it done, so I give him credit. There’s nothing better than watching a three-all-clinching moment in college tennis. Hats off to the guys, I know they enjoyed it.

UP NEXT

Bears stay in the Grand Canyon State for their match against No. 16 Arizona on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. CT.