WACO, Texas – The 29th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team topped Wichita State, 6-1, Friday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The victory improves the Bears' overall record to 12-4 on the season and 9-2 at home.
"I
thought some guys played well," head coach Matt Knoll said. "Doubles
was certainly great and I think after the
first sets and halfway through the second sets it was a really good
day. I thought we kind of lost our momentum and focus down the stretch
and didn't finish as well as we would have liked, but a lot of guys got
wins and it was a good day."
Baylor got off to another strong start in doubles competition, taking the point with an 8-3 victory on court 2, and
an 8-6 win on court 1.
"We are really fortunate," Knoll said. "We think we have four really good teams and I think you saw that today.
Bobby
and Woody were first off at two doubles and played a great match. We
wanted to get them in there and get them a chance to play."
The Bears continued their winning as singles action got underway. Diego Galeano was the first Baylor player to secure
a victory in the No. 5 spot by a score of 6-0, 6-3.
Mate Zsiga put the Bears up 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory on court four before Tony Lupieri clinched the match winning
point with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Wichita's Tomislav Grequrovic.
"What a great start," Knoll said. "Two 6-0 first sets. I was going to give Coach Mueller the MVP because he was coaching
those two matches. It was a great start, they really set the tone. Those guys were really great today."
Julian Lenz bested Ilija Cuic 6-2, 6-4 to put BU up 5-0, before Patrick Pradella overcame a second set defeat to
claim a win over Wichita State's Matheus Pereira 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) in the No. 1 spot.
Attention then turned to court six for the final point of the match. Marko Krickovic got off to a fast start and
won the first set, but was unable to hold on, losing by a score of 1-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8).
Wichita State falls to 10-4 on the season. BU leads the all-time series vs. the Shockers, 3-2.
The Bears will be back in action on Tuesday as they host No. 24 California at 1 p.m.
To stay up to date with the team all season follow @BaylorMTennis on Twitter.
