STILLWATER, Okla. - The 37th-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team lost 4-2 to No. 14 Oklahoma State Sunday at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
The Bears (14-11, 1-3 Big 12) suffered a defeat against the Cowboys (18-5, 2-2) for the first time since Feb. 15, 2008. BU has still won 12 of the last 13 and 24 of the last 26 contests between the two schools.
In doubles, Baylor fell behind early as the 82nd-ranked pairing of Tommy Podvinski and Max Tchoutakian were unable to pull the upset, 6-2, against the fifth-ranked paring of Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe at the No. 1 spot.
On court three, Julian Lenz and Tyler Stayer tallied a 6-4 triumph over Lukas Finzelberg and Tristan Meraut to draw the Bears even in doubles.
At that point the attention turned to No. 2 doubles where Jimmy Bendeck and Felipe Rios were locked in a 5-5 tie against Lucas Gerch and Jurence Mendoza. The OSU pair won the next two games to take the match 7-5 and the opening point.
Baylor and Oklahoma State split first sets 3-3, but the Cowboys took the first point in singles.
At the No. 6 position, Tyler Stayer dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision to No. 125 Jurence Mendoza to put the Bears down 2-0.
BU changed the momentum at that point at the top of the lineup as the 85th-ranked Tchoutakian took down No. 119 Kadhe, 6-3, 6-2, and the 17th-ranked Lenz bested No. 59 Cash 6-3, 6-3, to tie the team score at 2-2. Podvinski’s 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Finzelberg at the No. 5 spot ended the rally for the Bears
On the two remaining courts, Rios was close to forcing a third set against Gerch at the No. 3 spot, while Bendeck was battling Meraut in a second-set tiebreaker at the No. 4 position.
After winning the first set, 6-4, Bendeck dropped the second-set in a tiebreaker 7-6(7) and then lost the third set, 6-0, to give OSU the clinching point.
Rios had battled back to 5-5 in his third set against Gerch, after initially trailing 4-0 when the match was suspended.
NOTABLES:
· Baylor still leads the all-time series against Oklahoma State, 25-9.
· The loss snaps a 12-match win streak for the Bears against the Cowboys.
· BU is 25-4 against OSU under head coach Matt Knoll.
· Baylor is now 2-7 after dropping the doubles point.
· Julian Lenz and Tyler Stayer are now 3-0 in Big 12 doubles play at the No. 3 spot.
TOP QUOTE #1
“It was disappointing. We certainly felt like we had a chance to win the doubles. The way it ended was kind of a punch in the gut. In the last game, we missed some really good opportunities. It was one of the tougher doubles points to lose that I have seen in a while.” - head coach Matt Knoll on the doubles point
TOP QUOTE #2
“I was really proud of the guys. They bounced out in singles and competed well. Julian (Lenz) and Max (Tchoutakian) were really good out of the gate. It was a great performance from those two guys at the top in singles. Again, we fought like little dogs, but we just didn’t quite have enough. Oklahoma State is very good and they did a great job taking advantage of the opportunity.” - Knoll on the singles and match
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor will now conclude the regular season at No. 2 TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
