Baylor Men's Tennis Hits the Road to Face Nebraska and No. 4 Ohio State
LINCOLN, Neb. – The Baylor men’s tennis team will travel for two matches this weekend to play Nebraska in Lincoln on Feb. 7 and No. 4 Ohio State in Columbus on Feb. 9. This will be the Bears fourth top 10 matchup out of their eight matches played so far.
Baylor (5-3) looked strong in their double header on Sunday, defeating New Mexico and Rice both 6-1. The Bears shined in singles play, winning 11 of their 12 matches.
“We are excited for our first extended road trip of the spring,” head coach Michael Woodson said. “The guys continue to compete very hard then come back to the practice court and use the match feedback to improve. Two tough tests lie ahead before we return for ITA National Indoors, but they are exactly what we need to continue moving ourselves forward individually and as a team!”
On Friday, Baylor faces Nebraska in the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center at 6 p.m. The Huskers’ (4-2) two losses were at the hands of No. 20 Arizona State and Arkansas. Overall, the Huskers have played well in singles with a record of 20-9 and in doubles with a record of 11-6. However, no Husker has defeated a ranked opponent or team.
On the other hand, all three of the Bears’ losses have been to top 10 teams. In January, they lost to No. 4 Wake Forest, No. 2 TCU and most recently to No. 10 San Diego in a heartbreaking 4-3 battle. They will try to break this streak in Columbus Sunday.
The Buckeyes (5-1) recently suffered their first loss of the season, a hard-fought competition against No. 4 Wake Forest, 4-3. This weekend, they host No. 14 Texas A&M Friday before battling the Bears Sunday at noon.
Ohio State boasts three ranked singles players and two ranked doubles tandems. They have yet to lose a match on courts four, five and six in singles play. On the other hand, they are 0-2 on court two while the Bears are 6-0 with the help of reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, Oskar Brostrom Poulsen.
The Ty Tucker Tennis Center should be full of ranked matchups. In singles, Baylor’s No. 37 Devin Badenhorst, No. 64 Zsombor Velcz and No. 85 Brostrom Poulsen will likely face Ohio State’s No. 22 Aidan Kim, No. 47 Alexander Bernard and No. 106 William Jansen. Brostrom Poulsen has not lost a singles match yet, starting the spring 5-0. While he hasn’t notched a ranked win yet this season, he could accomplish that feat this weekend.
The doubles point could be crucial for a Baylor win. The Buckeyes dropped the doubles point in their loss to Wake Forest and in their hard-fought win against No. 5 Virginia. In each of Baylor’s top 10 losses, they were unable to secure the doubles point. Overcoming these woes could be a necessity Sunday at noon.
Following this weekend trip, the Bears return to Waco for the ITA Indoor Team Championships at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center. The tournament will run from Feb. 14 to Feb. 18 with Baylor co-hosting the opening two rounds and back draw third round in Waco. The Bears will play at 6:30 pm on Friday and then 3:30 pm or 6:30 pm on Saturday. Sunday’s schedule is still to be determined.