_ctofeatured.jpg "The Lady Bears are now 4-13 against ranked opponents.")
The Lady Bears are now 4-13 against ranked opponents.
Baylor University Team Page
WACO, Texas – Despite claiming a victory in doubles action to open the match, Baylor's 42nd-ranked women’s’ tennis team came up short against fourth-ranked Texas A&M, 4-2, on Wednesday at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
“We competed a little harder today than we usually do,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “When we compete hard, play disciplined, and do the right things, we’re competitive with anyone in the country.”
The match was originally scheduled to be played outdoors, but inclement weather forced the contest indoors.
The loss drops Baylor’s season record to 7-13, while Texas A&M improves to 13-2 on the year.
In doubles play, Texas A&M struck first with a victory on court 2. The 72nd-ranked pairing of Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar and Wen Sun swept past Alex Clay and Jordaan Sanford, 8-3.
However, Baylor would respond with a victory of its own. Alex Leatu and Kiah Generette took care of Ines and Paule Deheza, 8-1, at the No. 3 spot.
With the doubles point still up for grabs, the 29th-ranked BU duo of Ema Burgic and Victoria Kisialeva upset seventh-ranked Cristina Stancu and Stefania Hristov, 8-4. The Lady Bear tandem trailed 4-1 in the match, before winning the next seven games to clinch the doubles point. Burgic and Kisialeva have now won 10 matches in a row to up their record to 12-1.
In singles action, the Aggies would take control of the match with wins in the first two matches off. First, the 68th-ranked Stancu bested No. 120 Kisialeva, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 2 position, before Ines Deheza downed Generette, 6-1, 6-2 on court 4.
The Lady Bears earned their second point of the night to tie up the match as Sanford posted a 6-0, 6-1 upset over the 55th-ranked Urbina at the No. 3 spot.
When that match wrapped, courts 5 and 6 were heading to a third set and Burgic had just claimed a victory in the first set at the top of the lineup to tilt the momentum in BU’s favor.
The surge was quickly halted as Texas A&M claimed both of the third sets to secure the victory. Hristov rebounded after an opening set loss to get past Leatu 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 at the bottom of the lineup, while Sun squeaked past Biryukova, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, at the No. 5 position.
Burgic’s match against fourth-ranked Sanchez-Quintanar remained unfinished.
Texas A&M now leads the all-time series 21-20. The Aggies have beaten BU in three-straight matches after the Lady Bears had won 13 in a row in the series.
The two teams met earlier this season with TAMU claiming a 4-0 victory in College Station, Texas on Feb. 27.
Baylor will be back in action on Friday, hosting a doubleheader. The first match for the Lady Bears will be against Prairie View A&M at 2 p.m., with a Big 12 match against Kansas slated for 5 p.m. to follow.
“When we compete and put it on the line, we’re a pretty good team,” Scrivano said. “We shouldn’t be afraid of anybody when we compete hard. The challenging part is to do this week in and week out, and now we just have to bounce back and prepare for the next match.”
Follow @BaylorWTennis for updates on the team all season.
