Baylor University Team Page
TULSA, Okla. – Baylor men’s tennis sophomore Mate Zsiga was knocked out of the singles main draw at the ITA All-American Championships on Thursday with a loss in the second round of play at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
BU’s doubles duo of Marko Krickovic and Robert Verzaal was also eliminated with a loss in the main draw’s first round.
The seventh-ranked and fifth-seeded Zsiga began the first day of main draw singles action by beating No. 38 Vasco Mladenov of St. John’s, 7-5, 6-3.
“In the first match, Mate was a little bit edgy,” head coach Matt Knoll said. “He didn’t get off to a very good start and then was able to right the ship by competing hard. He won that match despite not playing his best tennis.”
In his second match, the sophomore suffered his first loss of the season by falling to 33rd-ranked Marcos Giron of UCLA, 6-1, 6-4. Zsiga’s fall record now stands at 7-1.
“Mate came out slow again in the second match and made a bunch of mistakes,” Knoll said. “He got up a break in the second set and I was hoping he had figured it out, but it just wasn’t a good day at the office for him.”
Later on Thursday, the doubles team of Krickovic and Verzaal were defeated in the first round of main draw action by the 24th-ranked duo of Andy Mies and Dan Cochrane of Auburn, 8-5.
“Our doubles team just didn’t execute very well today,” Knoll said. “I don’t if it was sitting around all day, we didn’t get on the court until 8:30 p.m., but we just weren’t very sharp.”
The Baylor duo will be back in action tomorrow with a match in the consolation bracket.