No. 14 Baylor MT Falls at No. 19 Illinois, 5-2

[Pirtle, Colin]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 1, 2024

No. 14 Baylor MT Falls at No. 19 Illinois, 5-2
Miladinović, Velcz tab singles wins
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>


URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 14 Baylor men’s tennis dropped its road match at No. 19 Illinois on Friday night, 5-2. The Fighting Illini (7-2) got their second win of the day after a quick start in doubles over the Bears (12-3), who picked up singles wins at the Nos. 2 and 6 positions. The match came three states over and only two days after the Bears played the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes in Waco on Wednesday evening.



THE RUNDOWN

The Illinois doubles lineup featured two ITA-ranked squads, with the national No. 2 doubles team at Court No. 2.



It was the second-ranked Hunter Heck and Karlis Ozolins that took the first match of the day from Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig, 6-1, closing the Bears’ six-match win streak. Clinching the point, Court One’s 59th-ranked Oliver Okonkow and Lucas Horve defeated BU’s Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz, 6-4.



Court Three was also nearing a finish for the Illini, as Kenta Miyoshi and Mathis Debru had match point next, up 5-3, from Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Christopher Frantzen.



Illinois opened singles by taking four first sets. Velcz stole a 6-3 Set One over the home team’s Heck at Court Two, while Badenhorst won four-straight games to win his first frame, 6-4.



Finishing first, Okonkow got his first win of the season at the five spot, defeating Koenig, 6-2, 6-2. No. 83 Velcz recorded a bounce-back win at No. 2 singles, as he swiftly beat No. 47 Heck, 6-3, 6-2.  Louis Bowden moves to 4-4 in his freshman campaign with the loss at Five, falling to No. 46 Miyoshi, 6-1, 6-4.



The Fighting Illini clinched the match on Friday night with a win at No. 1, as No. 35 Paroulek fell to No. 41 Ozolins, 6-3, 7-5.



Playing out the remaining singles, Badenhorst split his first two sets after coming back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set. In the end, the freshman dropped the tiebreaker 10-8 and moves to 8-2 this spring. Marko Miladinović closed the night for BU with a win, defeating William Mroz in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.



HIGHLIGHTS

  *   Zsombor Velcz recorded the second-highest ranked win of his career, defeating the 47th-ranked player in the national to up his singles win total to seven on the spring.
  *   Marko Miladinović won his fifth-straight singles match and the eighth in 2024.



QUOTABLE

Head coach Michael Woodson

On today’s match…

“I honestly thought we played a very poor doubles point. We looked a little lethargic at the start, and I thought they got on top of us right there and made it hard to come back on pretty much every court. That was tough to see because we’ve been playing some pretty good doubles, in general. Then I really challenged the guys to step back up in singles and push back. It took us a while to push back, but I thought we started to give ourselves some opportunities on courts. I give a ton of credit to Zsombor [Velcz] today. He has been working hard since Wednesday, and I thought he produced some really good tennis. Marko did a great job after the first set to turn the match and really wear the other guy down and battle. We gave ourselves chances for four points tonight, but they were just a well-prepared team that used the home-court advantage to get over the hump. We learned some things about ourselves, and I am excited to get back on the practice courts before a pretty busy next weekend.”



UP NEXT

The Bears host VCU at the Hurd Tennis Center on Thursday, March 7, at 6 p.m.



- BaylorBears.com -

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

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

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