Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa senior Grant Ive's three-set win at flight No. 3 gave the Hurricane its fourth point to clinch an upset victory for the 22nd-ranked Golden Hurricane over 14th-ranked Baylor on Sunday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Tulsa went on to win the match 5-2.

 

Tulsa, playing its fifth top-25 opponent this year, moved to 3-3 on the season, while the Baylor Bears dropped to 2-1. It was the second win over a top-16 team for the Hurricane in the early part of the 2013 season, as Tulsa defeated No. 16 Illinois last week.

 

The visiting Bears went ahead 1-0 by winning the doubles point, but the Hurricane jumped out to a strong start in singles taking the first set in five of the six matches.

 

Tulsa's Tristan Jackson tied the score at 1-1 with his singles victory at the No. 6 position with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Roberto Maytin. Clifford Marsland put the Hurricane ahead 2-1 when he upset 60th-ranked Mate Zsiga in straight sets 6-4 and 6-3 at flight one.

 

At the No. 2 singles position, Tulsa's 34th-ranked Japie De Klerk was in trouble early in his first set against Baylor's 50th-ranked Marko Krickovic, trailing 4-1, but De Klerk regrouped to take the next five points and claim a first-set 6-4 victory. He took a 5-1 lead in the second set and held on to take the straight set victory with a 6-3 win in the second and put the Hurricane ahead by a score of 3-1.

 

With a 3-1 Tulsa lead, it was a pressure-cooker at the No. 3 position between Grant Ive and Baylor's Patrick Pradella. Ive suffered Tulsa's lone loss in the first set, losing 6-3, but bounced back strong in the second set when he grabbed a 6-1 victory over Pradella to force a final set. In the third, Ive jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but Pradella battled back to tie it at 5-5 and take the lead at 6-5. Ive would then force the tiebreaker by winning the next point. Ive took out the suspense early in the tiebreaker when he jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then after a point by Pradella, closed the match with five straight points to win the tiebreaker 7-1.

 

Ive's victory gave the Hurricane its fourth point to clinch the team win.

 

At flight six, Tulsa freshman Carlos Bautista took a 6-3 victory in the first set, dropped the tiebreaker in the second and lost in the third set 6-2 against Diego Galeano as the Bears scored its first singles point after claiming the doubles to open the match, making the score 4-2.

 

Tulsa's Alejandro Espejo's victory at the No. 4 slot increased Tulsa's margin of victory to 5-2. After trailing 1-3 in the first set, Espejo battled back to tie the score 3-3 and again at 4-4 before winning the last two points of the first set for a 6-4 win. Espejo lost the second set in a 7-4 tiebreaker, but closed things out for the Hurricane with a 6-2 final set win.

 

The Bears began the match by claiming the doubles point. Baylor's No. 3 doubles team of Pradella and Julian Lenz began the match 2-0 and increased the lead to 6-1 before winning 8-2 to get the Bears off to a solid start in doubles play. Tulsa's Ive and Jackson handed the Baylor pair of Krickovic and Maytin an 8-5 defeat at flight two, but Baylor gained the point with an 8-5 victory at the No. 1 position behind the play of Zsiga and Lupieri defeating Tulsa's tandem of Marsland and Especjo.

 

Tulsa travels to play a top-10 Oklahoma Sooner team on Friday, Feb. 8th, before returning home to face a third straight Big 12 opponent, TCU Horned Frogs, two days later for a 1:00 pm match at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

 

For all Tulsa tennis news and information visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. Follow men's tennis at at www.twitter.com/TulsaMTennis and www.facebook.com/TulsaMTennis.

 

 

Tulsa Men vs. Baylor

Feb. 3, 2013 at Tulsa, Okla.

Michael D. Case Tennis Center

 

RESULTS #22 Tulsa 5, #14 Baylor 2 Singles No. 1 Clifford Marsland (TLS) def. #60 Mate Zsiga (BAY) 6-4, 6-3 No. 2 #34 Japie De Klerk (TLS) def. #50 Marko Krickovic (BAY) 6-4, 6-3 No. 3 Grant Ive (TLS) def. Patrick Pradella (BAY) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1) No. 4 #69 Alejandro Espejo (TLS) def. Tony Lupieri (BAY) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2 No. 5 Diego Galeano (BAY) def. Carlos Bautista (TLS) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 No. 6 Tristan Jackson (TLS) def. Roberto Maytin (BAY) 6-2, 6-4

 

Doubles No. 1 Zsiga/Lupieri (BAY) def. Marsland/Espejo (TLS) 8-5 No. 2 Ive/Jackson (TLS) def. Krickovic/Maytin (BAY) 8-5 No. 3 Pradella/Lenz (BAY) def. Bautista/De Klerk (TLS) 8-2

 

Order of Finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (6, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4)