Baylor University Team Page
WACO, Texas - The 38th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team gave No. 1 Virginia all it could handle, but the Cavaliers responded to hand BU a 6-1 loss on Monday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
"I think we have made up a ton of ground in the last couple of months," head coach Matt Knoll said. "I feel like a lot of progress has been made. I think the guys are doing a much better job in practice and I think that that is bleeding over into the matches. I thought we got punched in the mouth yesterday and I thought we came out today swinging. We made a match out of it, but unfortunately we didn't get a `w', but we are getting better."
Baylor falls to 10-3 on the season, while Virginia improves to 8-0 with the win. The Cavaliers are 6-3 all-time vs. BU.
To open the match, Baylor lost the doubles point for only the second time this season as Virginia's 45th-ranked Alex Domijan and Mitchell Frank beat 53rd-ranked Patrick Pradella and Julian Lenz, 8-5, on court 2.
As that matched wrapped, the 37th-ranked Cavalier duo of Justin Shane and Julen Uriguen closed out Marko Krickovic and Diego Galeano, 9-7, at the No. 3 spot to give Virginia a 1-0 lead.
The Bears quickly made up the difference as Tony Lupieri cruised past the 24th-ranked Ryan Shane, 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot to open singles action.
Although the Bears stretched the remaining five matches into a third set, they were ultimately unable to claim another victory.
Justin Shane topped Roberto Maytin in the No. 6 spot, before the country's top player, Alex Domijan, got past No. 122 Pradella to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead over the Bears.
No. 77 Krickovic fell 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to eighth-ranked Mac Styslinger in the No. 5 spot to clinch the match for the Cavaliers. The 65th-ranked Frank overtook Baylor's No. 78 Mate Zsiga 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to give the Cavaliers a 5-1 lead.
The third-ranked Jarmere Jenkins closed out the match with a 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 43 Lenz.
Baylor is now 1-7 under Knoll in matches vs. No. 1 ranked teams and 46-51 in matches against top-10 opponents.
The Bears will now travel to Mississippi on Thursday for a 1 p.m. match vs. the eighth-ranked Rebels.
To stay up to date with the team all season follow @BaylorMTennis on Twitter.