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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;"><b>BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Feb. 13, 2026</b></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; color: black; background-color: white;"><b>No. 19 MT Dominates No. 9 UCF in the First Round of the ITA Indoor National Championship, 4-0</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; color: black; background-color: white;"><b><i>The Bears secured their spot in the quarterfinals by sweeping the Knights </i></b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>For more information contact:
</b>Josie Hutton; 254-709-7720, </span><span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(150, 96, 125);"><u><a href="mailto:josie_hutton@baylor.edu" data-outlook-id="5daf2b82-96ba-4a8a-8775-f86c15e05025" style="color: rgb(150, 96, 125); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">josie_hutton@baylor.edu</a></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>WACO, Texas –</b> No. 19 Baylor men’s tennis swept No. 9 UCF in the first round of the ITA National Championship on February 13th on Friday afternoon, advancing to the quarterfinals
held at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center, 4-0. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The fifth-seeded Bears (6-2) dominated another top-10 team, making this the first time since 2021 they've beaten two top-10 teams in consecutive matches after taking down No.
8 Texas A&M earlier this week at home. The last time the Bears swept a top-10 team was in 2024 against No. 5 USC. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>THE RUNDOWN </b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Bears’ went with a different lineup than usual in doubles and wasted no time taking the first point from fourth-seeded UCF (8-1) with Alexandru Chirita and Zsombor Velcz
finishing with a dominating 6-1 score. Blake Anderson and Devin Badenhorst followed quickly, 6-3, to get BU on the board. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Baylor singles were no different. The Bears won five out of six first sets across the courts, staying ahead of the Knights. Devin Badenhorst crushed his opponent in a decisive
6-4, 6-2 victory to earn a second point for the Bears. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">He was followed closely by Louis Bowden on Court Six who controlled with 6-4, 6-1 final score. Finally, Luc Koeing won Baylor its fourth point with a hard-fought second tie-break
6-4, 7-6(3) win. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>UP NEXT</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Baylor will play in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor Championship at 3:30 pm CT on Saturday, Feb. 14<sup>th</sup>. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>HEAR FROM LUC KOEING </b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">On today’s match… </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“My biggest focus going into today was just to do a better job with the doubles. We've been talking about it a lot. We decided to make an adjustment; to be honest, we didn't
have a lot of time to practice it. Just because of the short turnaround from Texas A&M and we've been kind of rehabbing Devin [Badenhorst] with his ankle to make sure that he was ready. So, he didn't play very much doubles or very much at all going into today.
We felt good about Luc [Koenig] and Connor [Van Schalkwyk]. They played a little bit before. They have good chemistry. Obviously, I didn't want to compromise what Zsombor [Velcz] and Alex [Chirita] are doing. They are doing a great job and were just kind of
hoping for the best at Three. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“We're relying on Devin's level and Blake [Anderson’s] energy and I thought we'd delivered today. We did a really nice job of communicating, coming out with good, good posture,
good presence, poise, you know, and kind of stuck it to them, which was great to see. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“And when we do that, sometimes you can take your foot off the gas, going into singles and that's a real opportunity for your opponent to reset. Like we did to A&M on Monday.
And I was really pleased with how we started our singles. We got up on a few courts. Yes, we got down. We didn't get too far down. Just a game or two on every court. And then to go and run off five out of six first sets was impressive. And then to stretch
leads on a couple of courts, make it way easier for guys like Connor and Luc, who are getting into kind of tiebreak territory in their second set. So, I thought it was a better performance than we had against A&M and that's pretty hard to do, so I'm pleased.” </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">On first time since 2021 beating two top-10 teams consecutively… </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“That's a good stat. I didn't know that. It feels really good. I think these guys look and feel confident. And that they believe not just in themselves, but that they believe
in each other. And it feels like a really complete team. And I know they have big goals and they've been working really hard and I think a couple of the losses that we've had earlier in the year have been really good for us. I hope we can build on this and
continue to try to raise the standard that we have right now.”</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>RESULTS </b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><i>Doubles </i></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1. Connor Van Schalkwyk and Luc Koenig (BU) vs Colin Paul and Dlimi Yassine (UCF), 4-4 (15-40), unfinished </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2. Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita (BU) def. Mehdi Benchakroun and Wissam Adberrahman (UCF), 6-1 </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3. Blake Anderson and Devin Badenhorst (BU) def. Luca Hotze and Nicolas Oliveira (UCF), 6-3 </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Order of finish: 2, 3</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><i>Singles </i></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1. Devin Badenhorst (BU) def. Yassine Dlimi (UCF), 6-4, 6-2 </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2. Zsombor Velcz (BU) vs Wissam Abderrahman (UCF), 7-5, 3-3, unfinished </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3. Connor Van Schalkwyk (BU) vs Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF), 6-3, 5-6, unfinished </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">4. Alexandru Chirita (BU) vs Pedro Rodrigues (UCF), 5-7, 6-2, 0-0, unfinished </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">5. Luc Koenig (BU) def. Paul Colin (UCF), 6-4, 7-6(3) </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">6. Louis Bowden (BU) def. Clement Lemire (UCF), 6-4, 6-1</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Order of finish: 1, 6, 5 </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><i> - BaylorBears</i></span><span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><i><u>.com</u> -</i></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(15, 92, 26);"><b>Josie Hutton</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (MBB, FB, MTEN) </span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">C: (254) 709-7720</span></p>
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