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WATCH: No. 6 MT Powers Past Utah in NCAA First Round

May 3, 2019
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WACO, Texas – Sixth-seeded Baylor men’s tennis (23-5) used a strong doubles point and a brief weather delay and venue change to wrap up a 4-0 sweep over No. 42 Utah (17-12) in the NCAA First Round Friday at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco.

Opening the NCAA Tournament for the first time against a Power Five opponent in Waco, Baylor improved to 29-1 in home postseason matches and 20-2 all-time in the first round.

The Bears got the quick lead in doubles play behind a 6-1 win from Johannes Schretter and Constantin Frantzen at the No. 3 spot. Then, the top-ranked duo of Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah captured the opening point with a 6-4 victory on court one.

In singles play, the Bears were pushed to three first-set tiebreakers at the top three spots. BU came away with five first sets before inclement weather pushed the match indoors.

76th-ranked Lah got things started at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Mathias Gavelin at the No. 5 spot. Then, 20th-ranked Schretter took a 7-6(2), 6-2 win over No. 45 Dan Little at the top of the lineup.

112th-ranked Adrian Boitan clinched the victory for the third match in a row when he took a 7-6(4), 6-2 win against Slava Shainyan on court three.

HIGHLIGHTS
• The Bears improve to 57-20 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including 20-2 in the first round.
• Baylor advanced to the NCAA Second Round for the 18th-consecutive season.
• Baylor improves to 14-0 at home this season and has outscored opponents 78-8 in Waco.
• Baylor is now 30-1 in its last 31 home matches dating back to the 2017 season.
• Baylor improves to 2-1 all-time against Utah and 1-0 against the Utes in the NCAA Tournament.
• Baylor is now 29-1 all-time in NCAA matches at home.
• BU improves to 15-4 against ranked opponents this season.
• Baylor is now 21-6 in the doubles point and 18-3 when winning the opening point this season.
• Adrian Boitan clinched his third straight match and improved to 14-4 in dual-match singles play.
• Sven Lah improves to 21-3 in spring singles play.
• Schretter improves to 10-7 in dual-match singles action and a team-high 10 ranked wins.
• Baylor won its NCAA Tournament match under first-year head coach Brian Boland.

STAT OF THE MATCH
1 – the number of times Baylor has opened the NCAA Championship against a Power Five opponent at home.

TOP QUOTE #1
Head coach Brian Boland
On the win…
“There was a lot of adversity and momentum changes throughout the match. We won the doubles point, but credit to Utah. They pushed ahead in those first sets and Matias (Soto) was down 5-1 in the breaker and pulled a close one in the tiebreaker out, and Adrian (Boitan) had to break to get back into the tiebreaker which we got a little bit fortunate there, and Will (Little) had the first set served against him and broke and went on to win that first set. Credit to Utah, they played a great match. They made it really hard for us and this is certainly one of the toughest first rounds in the country, that’s for sure.”

TOP QUOTE #2
Freshman Adrian Boitan
On the match…
“In the NCAAs, every team is good, so we don’t have easy matches here. We didn’t have the biggest energy that we could’ve given on the court. When we moved indoors, everything changed. We were all pumped up."

WHAT’S NEXT
Sixth-seeded Baylor meets No. 20 Michigan in the NCAA Second Round Saturday. The match is set for 6 p.m. CT at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco.

Tags: Tennis, Baylor, 2019
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WATCH: No. 6 MT Powers Past Utah in NCAA First Round

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