No. 4 Baylor Men's Tennis Cruises Into Championship With 4-0 Win Over Illinois

Sat Feb 13 23:43:37 CST 2021

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – February 13, 2021

No. 4 MT Cruises Into Championship With 4-0 Win Over Illinois
Bears moving on to ITA National Team Indoor Championship final for first time since 2005
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 4 Baylor men’s tennis (11-1) collected another sweep victory at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Saturday, this time in the semifinals over host team Illinois (2-1) 4-0.

The Bears advanced to Sunday’s championship match against No. 2-ranked North Carolina (5-0), scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Atkins Tennis Center.

This is Baylor’s first appearance in the final since 2005, when BU won the national event with a 4-1 victory over Virginia.

To open the match, BU used two doubles victories by Charlie Broom/Matias Soto and Spencer Furman/Nick Stachowiak to gather the opening point. At No. 2 doubles, Broom/Soto picked up their seventh win as a pairing this spring with a 6-4 victory over Alex Brown/Hunter Heck. In the third spot, Furman/Stachowiak defeated Alex Bancila/Aleksander Kovacevic 6-3, beating No. 10-ranked Constantin Frantzen/Sven Lah to the punch as the Bears were also leading 5-3 on court one.

As singles got underway, No. 103 Broom was off the court in the blink of an eye, defeating Heck 6-0, 6-2 on court five in under 45 minutes for BU’s second point. The Bears took five first sets, as it seemingly became a race to the finish line to see who would put the next points on the board.

It was No. 56 Soto who recorded the third point, pulling off a straight-set upset over No. 15 Alex Brown, 6-2, 6-4 on court two, edging the Bears closer to the championship. Then, with two other Bears approaching match points, it was Furman who clinched it at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-2, to send Baylor through to the finals.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor advances to the final of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship for the first time since 2005, when the Bears won the title by defeating Virginia, 4-1.
• BU improved to 8-6 all-time against Illinois, having now won each of the last three meetings.
• This is the first time Baylor has won two matches at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship since 2015.
• The Bears are now 9-3 in the doubles point this season.
• BU improved to 8-1 in matches when winning the doubles point.
• Baylor is now a combined 50-5 this season in singles play and 25-9 in doubles action.
• No. 56 Matias Soto upset No. 15 Alex Brown in straight sets for his team-leading fifth ranked win of the season.
• No. 103 Charlie Broom and Spencer Furman are tied for the team lead with seven singles wins apiece.

STAT OF THE MATCH
0 – Baylor has not conceded a point in its two matches at the 2021 ITA National Team Indoor Championship, as the Bears collected their second-consecutive sweep on Saturday over Illinois.

TOP QUOTES
Interim head coach Michael Woodson
On tonight’s match…
“Really impressive performance from the guys. I think they showed, again, the belief in themselves and each other. They played the big points well early on in the doubles and really locked it in in the singles on every court. The focus and the maturity they displayed was really fantastic.”

On tomorrow’s final against North Carolina…
“I think [our guys] just need to continue to focus on themselves and put their best self out on the court. If they play their game, trust themselves and each other, then we’re going to have an opportunity when it matters the most. This is a resilient bunch, so if they can go out and enjoy themselves like they have been I think it’s going to be a heck of a match and a lot of fun.”

Graduate transfer Charlie Broom
On his performance…
“I came out and was feeling pretty good. I knew if I was aggressive and stuck to my guns, then I wouldn’t miss too much. I made it pretty tough on [my opponent] to get into points. As the scoreboard kept ticking over, it became pretty comfortable in the end but he certainly posed some challenges and I was just able to overcome them.”

On his excitement ahead of tomorrow’s final…
“Obviously it was great to beat Illinois, their confidence was high after a great win yesterday, so to be them convincingly was obviously great. But at the same time, we’re excited for tomorrow. We’re going to get some rest, recover and get ready to go again. UNC is just as talented, just as difficult and we know they’re quality, but we’ll be ready to compete again. The job isn’t done. We’re looking forward to tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears (11-1) advance to Sunday’s championship match against No. 2 North Carolina (5-0), scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill.

For the latest news on the Baylor men’s tennis team all season long, follow their official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorMTennis.

-BaylorBears.com-

__________________________________

Max Calderone | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (VB, MTEN, EQ)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3073 | C: 254-265-1639

[signature_1868868776]<http://baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20210214/f78d2d84/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11691 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20210214/f78d2d84/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU_12 Box Score.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 84752 bytes
Desc: BU_12 Box Score.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20210214/f78d2d84/attachment-0001.pdf>