Paroulek, Velcz Down No. 1 Doubles Duo in No. 19 Baylor MT’s 5-2 Loss to No. 4 Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The No. 19 Baylor men’s tennis team lost its final match before the Big 12 conference season begins on Saturday afternoon, 5-2, to No. 4 Wake Forest.

Court One doubles saw a huge win for the Bears, as unranked Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz handed the No. 1 doubles team in the country their first loss of the season before Louis Bowden earned BU its lone singles point of the day.

THE RUNDOWN

Handing the first-ranked doubles pair their first loss of the 2024 dual match season, Paroulek and Velcz took down Holden Koons and DK Suresh Ekambaram, 6-3. Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow responded at No. 3 doubles with a 6-2 defeat of Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Christopher Frantzen just moments later.

The Bears took their 16th doubles point of the season with a battle won by Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig, as they were fought off a late push from Filippo Moroni and Matthew Thomson to win, 7-5.

In singles, the Bears’ early advantage was tested by 98th-ranked Tacchi at the No. 4 spot, as he defeated Brostrom Poulsen with a pair of 6-2 sets. Koons got the Demon Deacons their second point in singles play over Marko Miladinovic, defeating the junior, 6-1, 6-3.

Pow put the home squad one point away with a straight-set win over Koenig, 7-5, 6-2, and No. 22 Moroni clinched the match for fourth-ranked Wake Forest in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Playing out the remaining courts, freshman Bowden added a point for BU at the No. 3 spot, beating Thomson, 6-3, 7-5, before No. 90 Suresh Ekambaram came back to finish the match at One, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3,

UP NEXT

Baylor opens conference play by hosting No. 2 TCU at the Hurd Tennis Center on Friday at 6 p.m. CT, and the match will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.