Florida Defeats Baylor Men's Tennis in National Championship

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 22, 2021

Florida Defeats MT in National Championship
Bears conclude 2021 season with program-record 34 wins and third appearance in NCAA Championship
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

THE RUNDOWN
ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 1-ranked and second-seeded Baylor men’s tennis fell to No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Florida 4-1 on Saturday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., in the NCAA National Championship.

After winning the doubles point, BU (34-5) was swept by the Gators (26-2) in singles.

The Bears brought the energy to start the match with a thrilling doubles point. UF’s Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton snatched a 6-0 victory on court two over No. 75 Matias Soto/Nick Stachowiak, but Baylor responded with a 6-1 win on court three by Finn Bass/Charlie Broom against Brian Berdusco/Will Grant.

Then, on court one, No. 9 Constantin Frantzen/Sven Lah finished off a 6-2 match over Johannes Ingildsen/Duarte Vale to clinch the opening tally.

Moving into singles, the two sides split the first sets three apiece. However, the Gators made their move and finished off three matches in straight sets within minutes of one another.

No. 18 Andy Andrade defeated Lah on court three 7-6(6), 6-0, No. 6 Riffice held off No. 11 Soto 7-5, 6-3, and No. 79 Josh Goodger remained undefeated with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Spencer Furman.

With No. 21 Adrian Boitan leading No. 4 Vale on court one and Stachowiak even with No. 51 Blaise Bicknell on court four, it was Shelton who clinched for the Gators on court five over Broom in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 comeback.

HIGHLIGHTS
• BU is now 1-2 all-time in the NCAA National Championship.
• Baylor’s 34 wins are the most in a single-season in program history.
• The Bears are now 64-22 all-time in NCAA Championship play and 3-2 in postseason matches held in Orlando, Fla., at the USTA National Campus.
• The Bears are now 17-7 all-time in 4-1 postseason matches.
• BU is now 12-3 all-time as the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Championship.
• BU is now 18-5 against ranked opponents this season.
• Baylor finished the season having won 18 of its last 20 dual matches.
• The Bears went 30-9 in the doubles point this season and was 28-2 in matches when winning the opening tally.
• Baylor finished with a combined 158-33 (.827) mark in singles action this spring and a collective 73-26 (.737) record in doubles.

STAT OF THE MATCH
34 – Baylor finished the 2021 season with a school-record 34 wins.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Michael Woodson
On the 2021 season…
“I’m so proud of everything they’ve accomplished. It’s not as much about the tennis, obviously the tennis is fantastic – the stats, the records, the titles all speak for themselves. Making it to this point in the season really does speak for itself. It’s the way that these young men carry themselves. We were able to play 39 matches this year, which is truly incredible. A lot of credit needs to go to our athletic department, our administration, our health and safety staff to provide our guys opportunities to train and compete. And the players, they’ve sacrificed so much this year. We didn’t have any stoppages, we barely had any adjustments at all throughout the season. That’s a credit to the sacrifices these young men made through what was a very difficult time. They banded together extremely well and the result was lots and lots of success. It hurts, it hurts more that we don’t get to do it again than it hurts that we lost tonight.”

Fifth-year senior Constantin Frantzen
On his career at Baylor…
“Obviously, we had an unbelievable season, the best season I’ve had in my five years here at Baylor. We’ve won a lot this year and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get the job done today. Congrats to the Gators, they out-competed us today. It means the world to me that we even had the chance to play the final today. A huge thank you to everybody who was a part of my last five years here at Baylor. I don’t know how to thank them for the experience they gave me.”

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_757972941]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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