Baylor MT Closes Season in NCAA Tournament Against No. 18 San Diego, 4-1

[Pirtle, Colin]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS- May 3, 2024

Baylor MT Closes Season in NCAA Tournament Against No. 18 San Diego, 4-1
For more information contact: Colin Pirtle, 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 39 Baylor men’s tennis completed its 2024 dual-match season on Friday evening at the Mitchell Tennis Center with a match against 18th-ranked San Diego that began at 10 a.m. and did not end until approximately 5:30 p.m. due to weather.

Navigating the conditions, the Bears nearly took the doubles point with two match-deciding tiebreakers at the first and second courts. In singles, BU took Court Two with a win for Tadeas Paroulek and nearly had points for the green and gold at Nos. 3 and 6 in matches abandoned with the clinch.

THE RUNDOWN
Before a 15-minute pause for rain, doubles play began in College Station with Blake Kasday and Nikhil Niranjan defeating Louis Bowden and Christopher Frantzen, 6-1, in just the second dual doubles match the two Bears have played together.

Returning from the brief intermission, Court One’s Paroulek and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Court Two’s Devin Badenhorst and Zsombor Velcz forced tiebreaks against the Toreros, but USD found victory at the second court as Stain Klaassen and Oliver Tarvet stole the 7-4 breaker score from Badenhorst and Velcz to decide the point.

At the conclusion of doubles, rain and wet court conditions halted the match for just over four hours.

Coming back in singles, Badenhorst at No. 3 and Paroulek at No. 2 secured the Bears’ first-set victories of the match. Badenhorst rolled to a 6-3 win in the frame, while Paroulek’s set was decided in a tiebreak, 7-5.

Scoring first in singles, Klaassen beat Luc Koenig at the fifth court, 6-3, 6-1, but the Bears responded with unbelievable fight, as 86th-ranked Paroulek battled back from a slow start to beat 85th-ranked Iiro Vasa, 7-6(5), 6-3.

Savriyan Danilov scored San Diego’s first of two unanswered points that decided the match over Bowden. After being pushed to a tie, the USD fourth-court player took the first set in a 7-1 breaker and then marched to a 6-3 second-set win.

In a back-and-forth match that eventually favored San Diego, 81st-ranked Velcz nearly fought off No. 8 Tarvet before he secured the victory for the Toreros, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

At match point, No. 122 Badenhorst nearly completed his match against Lambert Ruland, but ended up abandoning in the third frame, 6-3, 6-7(5), 5-3. Brostrom Poulsen was also nearing a win at Court Six, up 3-1 in the third set after splitting the first two.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Michael Woodson
On today’s match…
“(San Diego State) is a highly ranked team and a very confident team. They played together, they played hard. We knew we were going up against it. And in very difficult circumstances, I thought our guys just came together really well, battled, pushed and gave themselves an opportunity to get over the line, which was really fun to watch. I thought it was an excellent college tennis match that I know I’m going to remember for a long time, for a number of reasons. But I am really proud of the way that guys continued to right back and find ways to give us a chance to win.”

For the latest news on the Baylor men's tennis team, follow its official Facebook, X and Instagram accounts: @BaylorMTennis.

—BaylorBears.com—

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

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

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