TULSA, Okla. - Baylor men's tennis senior Julian Lenz was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship with a straight-set loss against Wake Forest’s Petros Chrysochos Wednesday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
The 12th-ranked Lenz and 27th-ranked Chrysochos battled through two tightly contested sets that both ended in tiebreakers, 7-6(9), 7-6(4).
The match started with six straight holds, before Lenz was broken to fall behind, 4-3. After another pair of holds, the senior Bear broke back to square the contest at 5-5 and then went on to hold for a 6-5 advantage. At that point, Chrysochos used a medical timeout, which he returned from and held to force the first set in to a tiebreaker.
In the opening tiebreaker, Lenz jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but was tied 3-3 and then held a 5-3 advantage, before falling down 6-5. The players traded points til the tiebreaker was tied 9-9 and Chrysochos took the next two points to claim the opening set.
In the second set with the action tied at five games apiece, Lenz recorded another break to take a 6-5 lead, but couldn’t hold for the set win and was instead broken at deuce to force the set into a tiebreaker. The freshman Demon Deacon jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker. Lenz closed the gap to 5-4, but then didn’t record another point as Chrysochos won the next two points to take the match.
The BU senior closes his season with a 26-6 record overall.
For his career, the four-time letterwinner tallied a 114-33 career singles mark, making him the 10th player in program history to reach 100 career singles victories. He ends his career at No. 6 on the all-time Baylor singles wins list.
In doubles action, the Giessen, Germany, product was 93-25 in his career to finish ranked seventh on the career doubles wins list.
He is one of only six BU players in program history to reach 200 combined singles and doubles career wins. He finishes with 207 combined victories, joining 200-club members Benjamin Becker (245), Lars Poerschke (221), Denes Lukacs (214), Matija Zgaga (203) and Benedikt Dorsch (202).
Lenz also holds the distinction of earning a No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles (with partner Diego Galeano) during his career.
NOTABLES
• Lenz finishes 1-4 in NCAA Singles Championship play. He also lost in the first round in his first two trips, before making it to the second round a season ago.
• Lenz continued a 15-year streak in which the Bears have had at least one competitor in the NCAA singles draw.
TOP QUOTE #1
"It was a touch day for Julian and a hard way for him to end his career. He had one of the best careers in program history, but unfortunately he lost his last match. He has done a ton for the program and we are certainly going to miss him as he moves on to the next level." -- head coach Matt Knoll on the match
WHAT'S NEXT
The loss officially closes the 2015-16 season.
