For the 10th-consecutive meeting, the fourth-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team beat No. 8 Texas in Austin, 4-1, Wednesday at the Caswell Tennis Center.
The Bears have won seven-straight overall against the Longhorns, but have controlled the series even more when it is played in Austin - not losing a match in the capital city since April 22, 1999.
BU roared to a victory in the doubles point. First, the 13th-ranked crew of Juan Benitez and Will Little produced a 6-3 victory over Yuya Ito and Harrison Scott at the No. 1 spot.
That victory was followed by an upset victory for Jimmy Bendeck and Johannes Schretter over No. 67 George Goldhoff and Leo Telles, 6-2, at the No. 2 spot. The BU duo jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back to clinch the opening point.
The 51st-ranked Tchoutakian pulled the first upset of the day with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over No. 22 Christian Sigsgaard on the court two. The BU senior had lost to the Texas freshman 6-3, 6-2 in October at the ITA All-American Championships, but turned the tables in Wednesday’s contest.
Texas got its lone point of the match as Little faltered against Goldhoff, 6-1, 7-5, to cut the lead to 2-1.
Less than five minutes later, No. 12 Juan Benitez polished off 48th-ranked Harrison Scott, 6-3, 7-5. Benitez fell down 2-0 in the second set, but won the next four games and then dropped the next three to find himself down 5-4. From that point, Benitez won the next three games (two holds and a break), including two aces in his final service game for the victory.
To clinch the match, the 78th-ranked Schretter recorded an upset of his own, charging past No. 42 Ito, 6-4, 1-6, 6-0, at the No. 3 spot. Schretter’s second-set loss was his first set loss since March 17, after he had won six consecutive matches in straight sets. However, the sophomore wasted little time getting back on track with the shutout in the third set.
Meanwhile at the bottom two spots in the lineup, the Bears forced both matches in to third sets to keep Texas from tightening the match. Bendeck won his opening set against Telles, while Frantzen produced a 7-5 victory in the second-set against Rodrigo Banzer at the No. 6 spot.
NOTABLES
• Baylor holds a 22-9 advantage over Texas during the Big 12 era.
• The Bears have also taken 10 of the last 11 and 19 of the last 22 matches from UT.
• Texas leads the all-time series against Baylor, 40-22.
• The last loss to Texas was in 2010 in Waco.
TOP QUOTE #1
"I am really proud of the guys for the way they bounced back from a tough loss the other day. The guys came out in the next practice ready to focus and ready to get better. You saw a team today that was reenergized and responded to some adversity in a really first class way." -- head coach Matt Knoll on the match
TOP QUOTE #2
"This is a huge win. What a stupid league this is. It is just ridiculous. It just doesn’t get any easier. That’s why we all came to Baylor, because we want to play these kind of matches. It is great that the Big 12 is the best men’s tennis league in the country. It just makes guys better and it is fun.” - Knoll on Big 12 conference play
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will now have a week off before taking on No. 9 TCU at home in Waco on Wednesday, April 19.
