Baylor University Team Page

TULSA, Okla. – Baylor men’s tennis junior Robert Verzaal pulled off a victory in his back draw match of the ITA All-American Championships on Sunday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Verzaal faced Southern Illinois’s Johnny Rigby and came back from an early deficit to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. After getting off to a slow start, Verzaal was able to take the momentum for the rest of the match and win the final two sets.

“Robert got off to a slow start,” assistant coach Dominik Mueller said. “The theme over this whole tournament for him was to find a way to win. Even when Rigby was serving for the first set at 5-1, Verzaal fought back and didn’t give up. In the end, he found a way to win. It is really positive that he was able to come out today victorious.”

Verzaal dropped his opening round match in the pre-qualifying draw on Saturday to get pushed to back draw action. He will not have any more singles matches at the event.

On Monday, four Baylor players will be in action at the ITA All-American.  Sophomore Marko Krickovic and freshman Julian Lenz will compete in the qualifying singles draw against opponents to be determined. In the qualifying doubles draw, Krickovic will partner with Verzaal as Lenz teams up with sophomore Mate Zsiga.

“Both doubles teams are really excited to show that they are in good shape to go far in the tournament,” Mueller said. “We won most of our matches last week at the HEB Invitational which was great. Our goal tomorrow is to just take each match one step at a time. You just have to win three matches to advance.”