No. 11 Baylor MT Sweeps Season Opening Doubleheader

Sun Jan 15 19:40:46 CST 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – Jan. 15, 2023

No. 11 Baylor MT Sweeps Season Opening Doubleheader
Bears combine for 14 unanswered points on Sunday
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – No. 11 Baylor men’s tennis opened the 2023 season on Sunday, defeating Lamar and Incarnate Word by a pair of 7-0 victories inside the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

Baylor (2-0) won a perfect six doubles matches and 12 singles matches to cruise to victory, while Luc Koenig made his Baylor debut in front of a combined 310 fans across both matches.

THE RUNDOWN

Match One: Baylor 7, Lamar 0

The Bears got off to a hot start, claiming the doubles point with wins on all three courts. Finn Bass and Justin Braverman opened the season with a 6-2 victory over Hasslegren/Crespo on court two, while No. 59 Zsombor Velcz and Tadeas Paroulek won 6-2 over Amling/Salsini on one.

Ethan Muza and Koenig completed the trend, defeating Milic/Peter 6-2 on court three.

Singles play saw Koenig collect victory No. 1 in the green and gold, 6-2, 1-6, 6-0 over Crespo on court four, while Velcz and Braverman won their first dual singles matches. Velcz, a true-freshman from Hungary, beat Omoir-Cowie 6-2, 6-0 and Braverman, a sophomore, defeated Salsini, 6-3, 6-1.

The two ranked Bears in Bass at No. 23 and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi at No. 115 both won on Sunday afternoon. Bass took Amling to a 10-point tie-break before taking the match 4-6, 6-0, 1-0(7). Grassi Mazzuchi collected a straight-set win, only allowing a single game, 6-1, 6-0.

Marko Miladinović won point No. 4 for the Bears and clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-4 win on court three.

Match Two: Baylor 7, Incarnate Word 0

The Bears completed their doubleheader sweep of the doubles matches, beginning with third-ranked Bass and Grassi Mazzuchi on court one. Koenig and Muza weren’t far behind, finishing 6-4, and Christopher Frantzen and Miladinović followed up with a 7-6(4) tiebreak win.

Singles play was led by Muza putting down Tomas Reche in a mirrored 6-1, 6-1 performance. Velcz (6-1, 6-3) on court five, Paroulek (6-1, 6-2) on court one and Miladinović (6-2, 6-2) on court three all finished within minutes of each other to clinch the victory for the Bears.

Grassi Mazzuchi battled against Pietro Perego on court two, coming away victorious 6-4, 6-2.

Frantzen battled back from a 4-1 deficit in the first set and a 3-1 deficit in the second set to pull out the 6-4, 6-4 straight-set win to conclude the day of tennis.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   The Bears win their eighth-straight season opener, 20th since the beginning of the 21st century.
  *   BU extends its home win streak to 11.
  *   Baylor has won both ends of its last 45 doubleheaders.
  *   Baylor is 2-0 in doubles points this season, with a perfect 6-0 record.
  *   Luc Koenig made his Baylor debut, while Zsombor Velcz and Justin Braverman made their spring dual match debut.
  *   Baylor now leads the all-time series against Lamar 11-4, and Incarnate Word 9-0.

STAT OF THE GAME

14 – Unanswered points scored by the Bears on Sunday.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Woodson

On the doubleheader…

“It was a really good day. I think the biggest thing for everybody is that there’s just a lot of unknowns about the team. There’s a lot of guys that are either freshmen or didn’t see a lot of action last year, so I felt a little better going into today than maybe people on the outside did, just because we know what we’ve got and what these guys are capable of. But seeing them go out and do it twice in the day and seeing everybody contribute was really impressive. I think it exceeded my expectations.”

Junior Christopher Frantzen

On his comeback singles victory…

“It was a lot of ups and downs for me. We were down in doubles 0-3, and I was down in my singles 1-4 in the first set and 1-3 in the second, but always came back. We just slept a little bit at the start, and we have to be more energetic when we come out. There are takeaways from that, but we all came back, and we all came away with wins, so that’s a good sign for us.”

Freshman Zsombor Velcz

On his first dual match…

“It was a crazy atmosphere. The fans were amazing today, it was crazy. The team was also very close and cheering for each other for every point. It was a really good feeling.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears take a road trip to Virginia to face William & Mary in Williamsburg on Jan. 20, followed by Virginia in Charlottesville, Jan. 22.

- BaylorBears.com -

_________________________________________
Colin Pirtle | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (T&F, XC, MTEN)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 940-564-0351

[signature_2230589939]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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