Baylor University Team Page
WACO, Texas – The second-ranked and second-seeded Baylor men’s tennis team downed No. 18 South Florida, 4-1, at the Hurd Tennis Center Thursday to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals for the 12th-time in program history.
The Bears (24-5) won the doubles point and claimed singles victories on courts one, four and six to beat the Bulls (21-7).
For a second-straight match, Baylor was pushed to the brink in the doubles point. The Bulls won the first match with Felipe Rios and Vince Schneider falling, 8-4, to Roberto Cid and Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz at the No. 3 spot.
After staring their match down, 5-2, the eighth-ranked pairing of Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz rebounded to tie the match, 6-6, when the match on court three wrapped.
At the same point at the No. 2 spot, No. 79 Tony Lupieri and Mate Zsiga were in a tight battle with Sash Gozun and Vadym Kalyuzhnyy, but held serve to tie that match at 6-6 as well.
The South Florida tandems went on to hold on each court to put the Bears in a must-hold situation. BU did just that to send both matches to tiebreakers.
First, Galeano and Lenz cruised to a 7-1 triumph in the tiebreaker on court one to take the match over No. 28 Oliver Pramming and Justin Roberts, 8-7(1).
At that time, Lupieri and Zsiga were just starting the tiebreaker, but ended up rolling to a 7-4 edge to clinch the match and the doubles point for BU, 8-7(4).
Singles action was a close affair as well with Baylor winning four of six first sets to grab the early advantage.
Senior Diego Galeano was the first Bear to finish by winning his sixth-consecutive match with a 6-1, 6-2 victory on court four over Gonzalez.
The Bulls logged their lone point of the day as Pramming upset No. 58 Tchoutakian, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 3 spot.
BU took a 3-1 lead when Rios won his 10th match in his last 11 decisions in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kalyuzhnyy at the bottom of the lineup. The junior Bear now leads the team with a 20-3 dual-match record.
To clinch the contest, the No. 2 ranked Lenz bettered the 21st-ranked Cid at the top of the lineup, 6-3, 7-5.
STAT OF THE DAY
0 - the number of matches Baylor has lost when hosting NCAA Championship play (25-0)
NOTABLES
Baylor advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for second-straight year and the 12th-time overall.
Baylor improved to 12-4 in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
Baylor improved to 26-2 in the doubles point this season.
Baylor is 14-2 at home this season, and improved to 25-0 in NCAA Championship play when hosting.
Baylor is now 20-5 against ranked foes.
Baylor has a 13-3 record in 4-1 NCAA Championship matches.
Baylor is 51-16 all-time in NCAA play.
Baylor now leads the all-time series against South Florida, 4-0.
TOP QUOTE
“We knew it was going to be tough. We didn’t get off to the best start in the doubles. But we finished that and got the doubles point. I think we were a bit overwhelmed by their physicality in doubles. They came out and punched us in the mouth and rocked us a bit, but I was proud of guys for re-gathering and getting back into the match.” – head coach Matt Knoll on the match
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will face No. 8 and seventh-seeded USC (25-4) Saturday at 4 p.m. in the NCAA quarterfinals at the Hurd Tennis Center. The Trojans knocked off 10th-ranked Duke 4-0 Thursday. Earlier this year, BU beat USC, 4-3, in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge, 4-3, on March 21.
