Baylor Men's Tennis Drops Match at No. 4 Ohio State
COLUMBUS, Ohio – After gaining momentum with a big doubles point towards the Bears, Baylor men’s tennis couldn’t capture a victory at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center on Sunday against No. 4 Ohio State, falling 4-1.
THE RUNDOWN
Sticking with the same lineup from the Nebraska match, Baylor (6-4) went up against Ohio State’s (7-1) two ranked doubles pairs on Courts One and Two. On Court Three, the Baylor duo of Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita couldn’t hold on and fell 6-2. However, Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig didn’t let up and earned a big win on Court Two against No. 76 duo Kim/Jansen 6-4.
Coming down to Court One of No. 9 Bears Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen versus No. 23 Nakashima/Stearns, the match was a battle and extended into a tiebreaker. Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen held their own and took the doubles point at 7-6(1) to earn their second ranked win of the spring and give Baylor the early lead.
Heading into singles, the match looked to be tied even midway through the first set. However, the Buckeyes took an early lead with only Brostrom Poulsen earning a first set win on Court Two.
Moving in the second set, Koenig (6-3, 6-2) and Velcz (6-4, 6-0) fell quickly on Courts Three and Four with Ohio State taking the lead 2-1, but the Bears did not let up easily.
Chirita, after losing the first set, came back in the second set to extend his match 3-6, 6-4. Brostrom Poulsen’s opponent of No. 47 Bernard fought back to take the second, thus lengthening the match on Court Two.
The match came down to second set tiebreakers on Courts One and Six. No. 36 Badenhorst fell in the first set to No. 22 Kim but battled back in the second set and looked to take the match a third. Pushing to a second set tiebreaker, Badenhorst couldn’t hold at 6-2, 7-6(4) and Ohio State went up 3-1.
A similar pattern emerged on Court Six as Miladinovic also battled back in the second after a low first set. Miladinovic gave the Buckeye a challenge in the second but was unable to capitalize on crucial points as Ohio State took the match 6-0, 7-6(6).
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH MICHAEL WOODSON
“I thought we did a good job of coming out strong and competing at One and Two in doubles. As the matches wore on, we got better and better. We probably needed a little bit more from Three, but One and Two did a really good job of not being bothered by what was happening on Court Three. Just hanging in there, we got more opportunities as the sets wore on and played the big points very well. We were able to close out both to go into singles with the lead.
Thought a couple of guys got up early which was good to see. We had a slow start on a couple of courts, though, and they got on top of us as the first sets wore on which was tough. I think a few Bears didn’t go away and competed really hard at One, Two, Five and Six as the second sets wore on. We were able to flip the match on Five and Oskar was doing a great job on Two. We had opportunities at the end on One and Six. I think we just didn’t get a break here or there in the tiebreakers to take those and send them into a third. I think that, obviously, would’ve potentially changed the match.
I think we did a good job on four of the courts of competing and pushing these guys. They’re tough to play at home. They’re a great team. They’re ranked high for a reason. I think we were every bit as good as them on most of the courts. I think the challenge for us is making sure we show up and compete at every spot all the time, no matter what the circumstances are. So, we’ll take some confidence and learning opportunities from this match and get ready for National Indoors next week. We’re excited. I’m sure we’ll potentially have a rematch on Friday night with either Ohio State or TCU, so really looking forward to that.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears return to Waco to get ready to co-host the opening two rounds and back draw third round of the ITA National Indoor Championship on Feb. 14-16. The Bears will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday night.