The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 15 Men's Tennis shuts out No. 23 Baylor, 4-0 in regular season finale
04.22.2018 | Men's Tennis
Horns earn a first-round bye at this week’s Big 12 Championships, open play in the semifinals on Saturday, April 28.
WACO, Texas – No. 15 Texas (15-6, 3-2 Big 12) claimed a tightly-contested doubles point and produced three singles victories in a 4-0 win over No. 23 Baylor (18-8, 1-4 Big 12) Sunday afternoon at Baylor's Hurd Tennis Center.
The win places Texas in a tie for second place with Oklahoma in the final Big 12 standings. The Longhorns win a tiebreaker over the Sooners for the No. 2 seed at the Big 12 Championships given their win over OU last Sunday in Austin. With first-round byes due to the top-two tournament seeds, Texas advances into the Big 12 Championships semifinals on Saturday, April 28. The six-team men's event begins Friday, April 27 at Texas Tennis Center with semifinals on Saturday and the final on Sunday, April 29.
Texas led off the match with victories at the first and second positions to claim the doubles point. UT sophomore Christian Sigsgaard joined Texas junior Harrison Scott to upset Baylor's ninth-ranked tandem of Johannes Schretter and Will Little at first doubles, 6-2.
Baylor's Roy Smith and Sven Lah held on for a 6-4 win over UT sophomore Yuya Ito and junior Colin Markes at third doubles. Texas took the deciding match at second doubles where juniors Leonardo Telles and Adrian Ortiz broke Baylor's 54th-ranked Constantin Frantzen and Akos Kotorman in the final game for a 7-5 win and a doubles point for the Horns.
Texas took a 2-0 lead behind Scott's 6-4, 6-3 victory over the Bears' Matias Soto at third singles. UT pushed its cushion to 3-0 with Sigsgaard's 6-4, 6-3 win over the 79th-ranked Bjoern Petersen at second singles.
Ortiz held a one-set and 5-1 second-set lead over Baylor's Smith at sixth singles only to see Smith pull back within 5-4. Ortiz thwarted Smith's rally in the end, as he held serve in the ensuing game to close out the match 6-4 and give Texas the match-clinching point it needed. The remaining three courts were suspended.
No. 15 Texas 4, No. 23 Baylor 0
Doubles – Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
1 Christian Sigsgaard/Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 9 Johannes Schretter/Will Little (BU), 6-2
2 Leonardo Telles/Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. No. 54 Constantin Frantzen/Akos Kotorman (BU), 7-5
3 Roy Smith/Sven Lah (BU) def. Yuya Ito/Colin Markes (UT), 6-4
Singles – Order of Finish: 3, 2, 6
1 No. 49 Yuya Ito (UT) vs. No. 64 Johannes Schretter (BU), 7-5, 3-6, 0-2, susp.
2 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. No. 79 Bjoern Petersen (BU), 6-4, 6-3
3 No. 74 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Matias Soto (BU), 6-4, 6-3
4 No. 88 Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. Sven Lah (BU), 6-2, 4-6, 0-0, susp.
5 No. 97 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) vs. Will Little (BU), 6-3, 3-6, 0-2, susp.
6 Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. Roy Smith (BU), 6-4, 6-4
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
I felt like we were fighting for a lot today. We were trying to get the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye at the (Big 12) tourney, and we were fighting to put ourselves in position to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships. This was a big match today, and the guys had a great competitive spirit all day. It's hard to win here. Baylor had not lost here all year long. We really competed well, and that was the difference. We were aggressive and came up with some big shots in doubles. And then to come out and get all six first sets was huge. We were able to put scoreboard pressure on them all day.
On earning a bye into the semifinals of the Big 12 Championships
It's nice to have that spot, but more importantly, we just needed to be ready to compete and perform. If you lose a match in the Big 12 tournament, you're done there, and if you lose another, your season is over. That (bye) was something to shoot for, but I just wanted to see us compete well at all nine spots. We talked about that after the loss on Thursday. They did a really good job at all nine spots today.
Players Mentioned
