WACO, Texas – Baylor men’s tennis (6-0) opened its three-match homestand with a dominant 6-1 victory over South Florida Friday night at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
The Bears are now 20-1 in their last 21 home matches dating back to the 2017 season, including a perfect 4-0 at home in 2019.
Baylor came with the early advantage in doubles play, and the sophomore duo of Matias Soto and Kyrylo Tsygura earned their first victory together with a 6-2 win over Sergio Gomez Montesa and Tobias Sonne at the No. 3 spot.
Finishing seconds apart, the third-ranked tandem of Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah clinched the opening point with a 6-3 triumph over Alberto Barroso-Campos and Pierre Luquet at the top of the lineup. Then, the senior duo of Johannes Schretter and Will Little made it a clean sweep with a 6-3 win against Jakub Wojcik and Ivan Yatsuk at the No. 2 spot.
In singles action, the Bears took all six opening sets and got out to the quick lead when Soto took down Jakub Wojcik, 6-1, 6-1, on court three, followed by a 6-0, 6-2 win for Tsygura on court six.
Lah clinched the match when he recorded a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ivan Yatsuk at the No. 4 spot. Playing the rest of the matches out, Jimmy Bendeck made it a 5-0 Baylor lead after he battled to a 6-4, 6-1 win against Sergio Gomez Montesa on court five.
The matches on courts one and two went to a third set tiebreaker where the Bears went 1-1. The Bulls got on the board after 33rd-ranked Schretter dropped a close 3-6, 6-3, 1-0(8) decision to No. 43 Alberto Barroso-Campos on court one, but 17th-ranked Little ended the match on a high note when he won 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(5) at the No. 2 spot.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor is 20-1 in their last 21 home matches dating back to the 2017 season, including 4-0 in 2019.
• Baylor started 6-0 for the third time in six seasons.
• Baylor is 17-0 at the No. 4-6 singles spots through six matches this season: No. 4 (6-0), No. 5 (6-0), No. 6 (5-0).
• With a another win today, Sven Lah started the spring season 6-0 in singles play.
• Jimmy Bendeck and Will Little improved to 4-0 in singles play this season.
• Baylor is now 5-1 in the doubles point and 5-0 when winning the opening point this season.
• Baylor went 4-0 in straight-set singles matches while going 1-1 in three-setters.
• Baylor went 11-3 in singles sets against South Florida.
• Baylor improved to 8-0 all-time against the Bulls.
STAT OF THE MATCH
17 – the amount of singles victories at the No. 4, 5 and 6 singles spots.
TOP QUOTE
Head coach Brian Boland
On the win…
“South Florida has been a good program over the years. We knew we had a pretty challenging week. There’s always some adversity you face throughout every season, and I was really pleased with the way the guys came out with a lot of energy. We made emphasis to come out with a lot of energy. We spent a lot of time on doubles this week. We’re working hard to get better fundamentally. I saw signs of improvement, and I liked the way our guys competed.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears (6-0) returns to action with a Sunday doubleheader against Nebraska and UTRGV at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center. The matches will be played at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. CT, respectively.
