The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 2 Men’s Tennis falls in Big 12 Championship final
04.21.2019 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns dropped a hard-fought 4-1 decision to Baylor.
Lawrence, Kansas – The No. 2 Texas Men's Tennis team fell, 4-1, in a hard-fought contest to No. 8 Baylor in the Big 12 Championship final on Sunday in Lawrence, Kansas. It was just the third loss of the season for the Longhorns, all against teams currently ranked in the top 10. Their overall record of 23-3 is their best mark through 26 matches since 2010 when they were 24-2.
"It's disappointing not to be able to win the last match of the season after such a fantastic season for the guys," interim head coach Bruce Berque said. "I'm proud of the way they competed on every court, and we were tough to put away today. The doubles point was pivotal as it often is when two top-10 teams match up. We just didn't execute as well as Baylor did in key moments, but I'm definitely proud of the way the team has played all year long and hopefully this will make them even hungrier for that NCAA tournament."
Deuce games, tiebreakers and close sets were abundant throughout the day, however the No. 6 pair of senior Harrison Scott and junior Christian Sigsgaard opened it by capturing a 6-0 shutout over the top-ranked doubles duo in the country of Sven Lah and Jimmy Bendeck. Even that match included four deuce games, but after junior Yuya Ito and freshman Chih Chi Huang fell to Johannes Schretter and Constantin Frantzen, 6-2, in third doubles, it would be a pair of deuce games at second doubles that would swing the point to Baylor.
Down a break and 4-3, seniors Colin Markes and Leonardo Telles had a deuce point with the chance to break back and even the match against Matias Soto and Will Little, but the point went in favor of the Bears. The opportunity presented itself again two games later with another deuce point down 5-4, but it again went to Baylor for the 6-4 final and 1-0 lead.
No. 53 Scott erased that lead in the first singles match to be completed, as he downed No. 75 Little, 6-4, 6-2, at fourth singles and evened the score, 1-1. After each player won their opening serve of the first set, the next four games were all breaks before the next three got back on serve to leave Scott a 5-4 lead. He got one last break to finish the set before the match went back to being on serve up to a 3-2 lead for Scott in the second when he took it from there on a 3-0 run for the win.
Both of Baylor's next two points came on second-set tiebreakers. After Markes fell, 6-4, in his first set to Lah at fifth singles, he got behind 3-0 in the second, but immediately answered with a 3-0 run of his own, which he turned into a 5-4 lead after a break. However, Lah broke back in the next game and each player held to go to the tiebreaker. In that frame, Lah moved out to a 3-0 lead, which Markes cut to 3-2, but he was never able to come all the way back as Lah took the 6-4, 7-6 (3) win and gave Baylor a 2-1 lead.
A similar scenario played out with No. 7 Ito against No. 49 Soto at second singles, except it was even tighter in the first set. Ito led 5-4 and was attempting to break serve for the set on a deuce point, but it went to Soto to even it, 5-5. Soto then broke to go up 6-5 and went on to win the set on another deuce point. The second set stayed on serve up to 4-4 when Soto picked up another deuce point to break for a 5-4 lead. Ito answered with a break of his own to even it and from there it stayed on serve to the tiebreaker. There, Ito took a 3-2 lead, but Soto put together a 3-0 run on his way to the 7-4 win and 3-1 lead for Baylor.
The clinching match for Baylor came at third singles where No. 73 Telles held first-set leads of 3-1 and 5-4 over No. 111 Adrian Boitan, but after Boitan evened it, 5-5, on serve, Baylor was able to secure another deuce-point break for a 6-5 lead that led to the 7-5 win. Telles also led, 4-3, in the second set before Boitan evened it on serve, but Boitan took a 15-40 lead in the next game. Telles fought back to send it to a deuce point, but it again went Baylor's way leading to a 7-5, 6-4 win for Boitan and a 4-1 win overall for Baylor.
Texas was leading the two remaining matches, including first singles where No. 9 Sigsgaard came storming back against No. 27 Schretter. With the first set knotted, 2-2, Schretter ran off six-straight games to win the set and establish a 2-0 lead in the second. Sigsgaard evened it, 2-2, but down 3-2 and 0-40, he came all the way back to win that game for a 3-3 tie. He would drop the next game, but from there went on a 6-0 run of his own to take the set and a 3-0 lead in the third. The match was left unfinished at 2-6, 6-4, 4-3.
Senior Rodrigo Banzer was once again inserted at sixth singles where he was involved in yet another tiebreaker against Kyrylo Tsygura. Banzer was on the short end of two deuce points in the first three games to find himself down 3-0 and 4-1 early. He came back with a 4-0 run to take a 5-4 lead that alternated to a tiebreaker, however this time Texas would come out on top as Banzer finished it on a 3-0 run after being down 5-4. Up a set, Banzer trailed 5-4 in the second set when the match was stopped.
The Longhorns will now have a week off before getting ready to host an NCAA Tournament Regional from May 3-5 at the Texas Tennis Center.
No. 8 Baylor 4, No. 2 Texas 1
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,2,3)
1. #9 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. #27 Johannes Schretter (BU), 2-6, 6-4, 4-3, unf.
2. #49 Matias Soto (BU) def. #7 Yuya Ito (UT), 7-5, 7-6 (4)
3. #111 Adrian Boitan (BU) def. #73 Leonardo Telles (UT), 7-5, 6-4
4. #53 Harrison Scott (UT) def. #76 Will Little (BU), 6-4, 6-2
5. Sven Lah (BU) def. Colin Markes (UT), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) vs. Kyrylo Tsygura (BU), 7-6 (5), 4-5, unf.
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3,2)
1. #6 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #1 Sven Lah/Jimmy Bendeck (BU), 6-0
2. Matias Soto/Will Little (BU) def. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-4
3. Johannes Schretter/Constantin Frantzen (BU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT), 6-2
(UT)
Players Mentioned
