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<h1 align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;text-decoration:none">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 6, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">No.
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">25 <span style="color:black">
Baylor MT Prepped for Four-Match Stretch</span></span></b><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Bears host VCU, Omaha and Cleveland State and play at TCU over four days<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">For more information contact:
</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351,
</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:colin_pirtle1@baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt">colin_pirtle1@baylor.edu</span></a></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">WACO, Texas –</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> No. 25 Baylor men’s tennis is set to begin four matches in four days over the
weekend, hosting No. 33 Virginia Commonwealth, Omaha and Cleveland State at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, while traveling to face No. 2 TCU at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The full weekend for the Bears (12-3) begins with the VCU (7-5) match in Waco on Thursday, March 7, at 6 p.m.
</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=df65797c-b584-4122-b6de-7e7694ee0d39"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Big 12 Now on ESPN+</span></a></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">
will carry Cracked Racquets’ CrossCourt Cast of the match with Alex Gruskin on the call. The very next day, BU turns around to host Omaha (10-6) at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 8, in a match that was rescheduled from March 13. Closing the weekend in a 90-mile doubleheader,
Baylor travels to TCU (10-1) to face the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth at noon before returning to the Hurd to play Cleveland State (8-5) at 7 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Playing the VCU Rams for the seventh time, the Bears are looking to extend their 6-0 series record on Thursday. The two teams haven’t faced each other since the 2009 season,
which ended the six-year scheduling streak. In that time, BU swept VCU twice and held them to seven combined team points.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Only facing off once before, Baylor looks to build its series lead over the Mavericks. With a 7-0 sweep at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Feb. 2020, the then-No. 26
Baylor team won the doubles point with a lineup that featured the No. 9 doubles squad of Constantin Frantzen and Sven Lah at Court One, before former Bears Matias Soto, Lah, Adrian Boitan, Frantzen, Rahul Dhokia and Sebastian Nothhaft swept all six singles
courts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Going into the 11th match against the Horned Frogs in the Michael Woodson era and the 71st match all-time, the Bears trail TCU, 39-31, in the series. Coming off a finals
appearance in the ITA Team Indoor National Championship, TCU faces Baylor for the first of two matches in the 2024 regular season, before the possibility of playing each other in the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments. The Horned Frogs have a 7-1 record over ITA-ranked
teams and are 6-0 at home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">After dropping two matches against No. 1 Ohio State and at No. 19 Illinois, Marko Miladinović (8-1) and Devin Badenhorst (8-2) are locked in first for the team lead in singles
wins. Miladinović has a perfect record at Courts Three, Four and Five and suffered his only loss of the season at No. 6 against Tulane’s Sam Scherer. Badenhorst won eight straight before falling in his last two results against Liam Krall from SMU and Alex
Petrov of Illinois. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">In doubles, Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz are tied with Badenhorst and Luc Koenig at the top of the team with seven wins this spring.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">In the newest rankings by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Paroulek was bumped to 59<sup>th</sup> in front of Velcz in 84<sup>th</sup> and Badenhorst in 123<sup>rd</sup>.
The Bears still are unranked throughout doubles. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">For the opponents of the weekend, TCU has the No. 2 doubles pair in the country of Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives, while Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted are 40<sup>th</sup>.
VCU enters the 31<sup>st</sup>-ranked duo with German Samogalov and Oscar Pinto Sansano. Singles rankings feature five Horned Frogs with Jack Pinnington 10<sup>th</sup>, Jake Fearnley 11<sup>th</sup>, Vives 35<sup>th</sup>, Gorzny 53<sup>rd</sup> and Maxted
87<sup>th</sup>. Two Rams also take spots in the singles list with Mathis Bondaz 41<sup>st</sup> and Matisse Bobichon ranked 70<sup>th</sup>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">All matches will feature live scoring and Playsight streaming available
</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://linktr.ee/BaylorMTennis"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">online</span></a></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">For the latest news on the Baylor men’s tennis team all year long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorMTennis.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">- BaylorBears<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color:black;text-decoration:none">.com</span></span><span style="color:black">
-<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">_________________________________________</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#073D1E;mso-ligatures:none">Colin Pirtle</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#073D1E;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">|
Associate Director of Athletics Communications (T&F/XC, MTEN, FB) </span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">C: 940-564-0351</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:3.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://baylorbears.com/" title="http://baylorbears.com/"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="160" height="44" style="width:1.6666in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DA6EFA.16AA9B90" alt="signature_2230589939"></span></a><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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