The 13th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season, falling to No. 4 California, 4-2, Friday in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
For the first time in 2017, Baylor lost the doubles point as Johannes Schretter and Max Tchoutakian lost to 6-2 to third-ranked Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat at the No. 1 position. Shortly after that result, Juan Benitez and Constantin Frantzen fell 6-3 at the No. 2 spot to Andre Goransson and Billy Griffith to fall behind 1-0.
In singles, the Bears’ deficit grew as Jimmy Bendeck dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision to 40th-ranked Griffith at the No. 4 spot. At that point, Baylor got on the board for the first time with Constantin Frantzen downing J.T. Nishimura, 7-6(4), 6-3, at the bottom of the singles lineup.
Frantzen’s match was just one of four that went in to a first set tiebreaker. The Bears split those tiebreakers, which gave three first sets to each squad.
Cal took a 3-1 lead, after Will Little lost to Bjorn Hoffmann, 7-6(5), 6-2, on court five.
At the No. 3 spot, Schretter converted his first-set victory into a three-straight win, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, over No. 42 Bergevi to cut the deficit to 3-2.
At that point, the only two singles contests left were both early in third set action. To close out the match, 54th-ranked Benitez lost to No. 11 Lakat, 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-4, at the No. 1 spot.
TOP QUOTE #1
"It was a tough day at the office for the Bears. We left some opportunities on the table today against a really good Cal team. They really stuck it to us to start the match and put us in a hole. We weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunites that presented themselves in singles. It was a great learning experience for our team. We are looking forward to getting out tomorrow and playing a really good team in Georgia." - head coach Matt Knoll on the match
OTHER NOTABLES
Baylor is now 7-1 on the season, while Cal is 4-0.
Baylor is now 5-3 all-time against the Golden Bears.
BU had previously been 7-0 in the doubles point this season, while losing only one doubles match in those seven contests.
Johannes Schretter has won six straight singles matches
Constantin Frantzen improved to 7-0 in singles play.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears will continue play at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Saturday when they face 12th-seeded and No. 10 Georgia at 2:30 p.m. CT.
The Bulldogs fell to No. 5 North Carolina, 4-2, Friday in first round action to drop to 3-4 on the season. Baylor is 1-4 all-time against Georgia, including last season’s 4-1 setback in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
