No. 1 Baylor Men's Tennis Punches Ticket to Orlando with Sweep of No. 37 Oregon
WACO, Texas – It was another sweep for the top-ranked team in the nation, as No. 2-seeded Baylor men’s tennis took care of No. 37 Oregon, 4-0, Sunday afternoon in Waco.
The Bears (31-4) overcame a one-hour, nine-minute weather delay that forced the match to move inside from the Hurd Tennis Center to the Hawkins Indoor to advance to the program’s 19th NCAA Round of 16.
Once again, BU started fast on the doubles courts as Finn Bass/Charlie Broom handled business at the No. 3 position, winning 6-4 over Brandon Lam/Ryoma Matsushita. Then, No. 75 Matias Soto/Nick Stachowiak sealed a 6-3 victory on court two against Emmanuel Coste/Jesper Klov-Nilsson to hand the opening tally to the Bears.
Heading into singles, it was Sven Lah who got it going quickly with a runaway 6-1 first set on court three. All other Bears were locked in tight matches, as three more openers went Baylor’s way while Broom and No. 11 Soto fell in first-set tiebreakers.
Just a few games into the second sets on all six courts, play was delayed due to lightning in the area. After the pause, BU brought its energy indoors and started to put points on the board. It was Lah who struck first, finishing off a 6-1, 7-6(5) win over Quinn Vandecasteele, followed by Spencer Furman on court six with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Luke Vandecasteele.
As Stachowiak battled in a 7-5, 4-4 match on court four, Soto and Broom fought back to force third-sets in their respective matches. But, for the third-consecutive match, it was Adrian Boitan who clinched it for Baylor at No. 1 singles with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Coste.
With the win, Baylor advances to face 14th-ranked and 15th-seeded Ole Miss in the NCAA Round of 16 on Monday, May 17, at 12 p.m. CT at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor’s 31 wins are its most in a single-season since 2005 (33).
• BU improved to 61-21 all-time in NCAA Championship play and 33-1 when hosting in Waco.
• The Bears are 35-4 all-time in 4-0 postseason matches.
• Baylor picked up its 18th sweep of the season and 14th at home.
• BU is now 9-2 all-time as the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Championship.
• The Bears are now 27-8 in the doubles point this season and are 26-1 in matches when winning the opening tally.
• Baylor boasts a combined 148-30 (.831) mark in singles action this spring and a collective 68-23 (.747) record in doubles.
• Spencer Furman extended his win streak to 11 matches with his 20th singles victory of the spring.
• Adrian Boitan is now on a five-match singles win streak.
• Matias Soto and Nick Stachowiak lead the Bears with a six-match doubles win streak.
STAT OF THE MATCH
19 – Baylor is advancing to the NCAA Round of 16 for the 19th time in program history.
TOP QUOTES
Head coach Michael Woodson
On moving indoors…
“It was interesting being out there as a coach because you are looking around and you’re focusing on a couple courts. On my courts, Matias [Soto] was struggling a little bit, and Adrian [Boitan] was actually struggling physically. I just felt like there was some uncertainty, which is good if we are going to go far in the tournament to have to wait, change venues, regroup. It helped some of our guys [by] stopping some momentum for other guys, but it was just about setting the tone as soon as we came into the indoor facility. I thought they did a phonemical job. When we came in, I felt like all our guys on every single court really stepped it up a notch and took the match. I felt like we were ahead, but we really finished it strong. The energy on and off the court was really good for our guys.”
On advancing to Orlando…
“[I thought winning] at Michigan and at Wake Forest were probably two of our best wins on the year and neither one of those teams are in Orlando. I think anytime you can advance to the round of 16 in any sport in college athletics is a huge deal. We are really excited about it. For some of these guys, they haven’t been in this position before so them to handle it as well as they did, coming from programs where they haven’t had that type of success is really special. I thought that Oregon played together, they pushed us to the limits and tested us on every single court. It’s good to get through.”
Graduate senior Spencer Furman
On gathering momentum after moving indoors…
“I felt like on my court, I was starting my jump in the second set and then the lightning happened, but I was able to get out to a quick start indoors and I felt like it got much tougher as it went on indoors because we got used to it. We were fortunate to get to hit earlier inside so that helped us a lot.”
Third-year sophomore Finn Bass
On getting it done in doubles…
“It’s massive, the doubles point is huge. Just for momentum going up 1-0 is massive, and you only have to win three out of six singles, whereas winning four against a team like Oregon is really difficult. It just sets the team up really nicely for the rest of the match.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (31-4) advances to face No. 14 Ole Miss (13-10) in the NCAA Round of 16 on Monday, May 17, at 12 p.m. CT at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
