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<b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#0F4761">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Nov. 21, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode:char"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">COMEBACK TO REMEMBER<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode:char"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">MT duo rallies from five points down to win super tiebreaker<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode:char"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-ligatures:none">For more information contact:
</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-ligatures:none">Josie Hutton; 254-709-7720,
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Courier;mso-ligatures:none"><a href="mailto:josie_hutton@baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;color:blue">josie_hutton@baylor.edu</span></a></span><u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:blue;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode:char"><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">By Jerry Hill</span></b><b><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><br>
Baylor Bear Insider<br>
<br>
WACO, Texas – </span></b><span style="mso-ligatures:none">Even playing on your home courts, the odds of coming back from an 8-3 deficit in a match-deciding super tiebreaker are close to impossible.<br>
<br>
But that's exactly what Baylor's No. 2-seeded duo of <i><a href="https://baylorbears.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/marko-miladinovic/13538"><span style="color:blue">Marko Miladinovic</span></a></i> and <i><a href="https://baylorbears.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/oskar-brostrom-poulsen/13529"><span style="color:blue">Oskar
Brostrom Poulsen</span></a></i> did Wednesday night at the Hurd Tennis Center in the opening round of the NCAA Individual Championships.<br>
<br>
Two points away from being eliminated, Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen reeled off seven points in a row and clinched it on a double fault, beating Middle Tennessee's Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak, 6-4, 6-7(3), 1-0(8), to advance to the Round of 16.<br>
<br>
"I'm still in shock, because it's pretty crazy," Miladinovic said. "I feel like we kind of showed what Baylor Bears are all about, fighting until the end. That's why Baylor has had so much success, because you had all these players that were willing to really
'die' to win the match. We showed that today."<br>
<br>
Facing his former team and head coach, Middle Tennessee's Jimmy Borendame, Brostrom Poulsen said it was a "weird match" where tensions were high and "everything kind of got to me." Saying he is "happy to be a Bear now," a demonstrative Brostrom Poulsen pointed
to his Baylor shirt and celebrated in front of his teammates as the match ended.<br>
<br>
Getting a point penalty when he was overturned on a service call that put the Bears down 6-2 in the super tiebreaker, Brostrom Poulsen said he was upset when the Middle Tennessee players cheered the call at such a pivotal point in the match.<br>
<br>
"I was like, 'Okay, that's too much,''' said Brostrom Poulsen, a two-time All-Conference USA first-team pick in doubles in his two seasons at Middle Tennessee (2021-23). "Throwing the balls away from us, that's not how we play. It's been pretty clean the whole
way. I just wanted to show appreciation, and the moment just kind of took over. But all the boys were hyping me and Marko up on the court. It just felt right at the moment."<br>
<br>
After surviving in the first round, Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen advance to face Texas' Lucas Brown and Timo Legout at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Minus the dramatic comeback, the Longhorn duo advanced in similar fashion, defeating BYU's Zach Fuchs and Wally Thayne,
6-3, 4-6, 1-0(8).<br>
<br>
"We always play three sets," Brostrom Poulsen said, laughing after Miladinovic said they would have to do a "cold punch" instead of a cold tub.<br>
<br>
"It's doubles, it's quick, it's not too physical. And luckily, we're at Baylor, so it's easy for us to sleep in our own beds, get a good dinner. We will, for sure, be ready and have a lot of firepower tomorrow."<br>
<br>
Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen were Baylor's lone survivors on a day that saw sophomore <i><a href="https://baylorbears.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/devin-badenhorst/13527"><span style="color:blue">Devin Badenhorst</span></a></i> fall to 9-16 seed Dhakshineswar
Suresh of Wake Forest, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round of singles; and 5-8 seeds Badenhorst and <i><a href="https://baylorbears.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/zsombor-velcz/13539"><span style="color:blue">Zsombor Velcz</span></a></i> upset by UCLA's Aadarsh Tripathi
and Alexander Hoogmartens, 6-3, 7-6(3).<br>
<br>
In the women's tournament, Baylor seniors Cristina Tiglea and Liubov Kostenko lost their first-round match to USC's Lily Fairlcough and Grace Piper, 6-2, 6-4.<br>
<br>
In position to finish their match off in straight sets, Miladinivoc and Brostrom Poulsen dropped three-straight break points at 7-5, 5-5, and then lost the tiebreaker, 7-3, forcing the 10-point super tiebreaker.<br>
<br>
"We were really pumped and excited, because the crowd, all the Baylor fans and our teammates and the coaches were really engaged with us in that moment," Miladinovic said. "At 15-40, they played some good points, and we didn't execute. We won the next game
and also had chances in the breaker. But this was a true roller coaster."<br>
<br>
That ride continued in the super tiebreaker, with the Bears falling behind 6-2 and 8-3 and the Blue Raiders only needing to win two more points to close it out.<br>
<br>
The improbable became probable when Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen reeled off six-straight points and then clinched it when Middle Tennessee double-faulted on the first match point.<br>
<br>
"We just kept fighting, kept fighting," Miladinovic said. "But I feel most of our win has to go to the coaches and the teammates and our fans, because they really pushed us through. When they saw that the momentum would change – 8-4, 8-5 – they gave us a boost,
and we felt it. That's the advantage of playing at home."<br>
<br>
In Thursday's second-round match, the Bears will play the UT duo of Brown and Legout that won the ITA Texas Regional on these same courts, beating Baylor junior <i><a href="https://baylorbears.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/luc-koenig/13537"><span style="color:blue">Luc
Koenig</span></a></i> and freshman <i><a href="https://baylorbears.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/imran-daniel-hazli/13548"><span style="color:blue">Imran Daniel Hazli</span></a></i>, 6-3, 7-5, in the final.<br>
<br>
"I'm really happy that I shared the court with Marko today," Brostrom Poulsen said. "Made it a lot easier not to be out there by myself. . . . I'm just happy to be a Bear now and be along Marko out there every day. It's a beautiful thing, and all the boys in
the stands just made it a lot easier for me."<br>
<br>
Live scoring updates and tournament information is available at <a href="https://baylorbears.com/feature/NCAATennis2425"><span style="color:blue">NCAA Tennis 2425</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#0F5C1A;mso-ligatures:none">Josie Hutton</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (FB, T&F/XC, MTEN) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Department of Athletics | Baylor University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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