The 13th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team recorded its fifth shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory over Purdue Friday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
Baylor got off to a fast start by winning the doubles point. First, Juan Benitez and Constantin Frantzen downed Ricky Mednilla and Stephan Koenigfest, 6-4, at the No. 2 spot. Max Tchoutakian and Johannes Schretter clinched the doubles point for the Bears with a 6-3 victory over Dominik Sochurek and Benjamin Ugarte at the top of the doubles lineup.
However, Purdue turned the tide in singles, winning four of six singles first sets.
The Bears turned one of those first sets wins into a straight-set victory as Will Little polished off Sochurek, 6-1, 6-3, at the No. 5 position.
BU worked to turned all of its first-set losses around, winning second-sets in three of the four matches, including 54th-ranked Benitez taking care of Gergely Madarasz, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, at the top of the singles lineup.
Jimmy Bendeck clinched the match for the Bears with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory against Koenigfest at the No. 3 spot.
TOP QUOTE #1
"I think it's a learning experience. We haven't practiced that well lately. I think we have to do a better job preparing and that certainly carries over to how we perform. We have a young team, they're passionate and come out and fight hard in their matches, but we have to have a little more passion to prepare than we have so far and once we have, we have a chance to be really good." - head coach Matt Knoll on the match
OTHER NOTABLES
Baylor is now 7-0 on the season, while Purdue is 6-4.
Baylor is now 6-0 all-time against Purdue.
Purdue head coach, Pawel Gajdzik, is a former Baylor player and coach. During his time as a Baylor player, he was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year while leading the team to its first NCAA tournament appearance.
BU is 7-0 in the doubles point this season.
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor will now travel to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 17-20. The bracket for that event will be announced next week.
