The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 9 Men’s Tennis downed by No. 2 Baylor, 6-1
02.07.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns received a singles win from senior Richard Ciamarra, along with taking two other singles matches to third-set superbreakers, and playing a close doubles point, but fell to the Bears in Waco.
Waco, Texas – No. 9 Texas Men's Tennis was downed by No. 2 Baylor, 6-1, in Waco at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on Monday.
The Longhorns received a singles win from senior Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, along with taking two other singles matches to third-set superbreakers, and playing a close doubles point, but were not able to overcome the Bears.
Ciamarra defeated Sven Lah in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, using a deuce-point break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead that he extended to 3-0 on serve. Despite the next four games all going to deuce points, they all stayed on serve to a 5-2 lead for Ciamarra. Lah then held and picked up a break, but Ciamarra answered the break for the set. In the second, it was Lah who used an early deuce-point break for a 1-0 lead that he then increased to 2-0 on serve. However, Ciamarra got the break back on a deuce point at 3-3 and then held on another deuce for a 4-3 advantage. After the next two games stayed on serve, Ciamarra broke Lah again for his victory.
The two superbreakers came from sophomore No. 73 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2. Harper won his opening set against Finn Bass, but Bass responded by taking the second and then the superbreaker for the 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (6) decision. In that first set, Bass went up a break at 2-1 and then extended to 3-1 on serve, but Harper rallied for a 5-0 run, with the first and last two games of that coming on deuce points. After Bass won the second set, Harper took early leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the superbreaker, but Bass went on a 3-0 run for a 4-3 edge. Harper secured the next two points for one more lead at 5-4, and it was tied twice more at 5-5 and 6-6, but Bass closed on a 4-0 run for his win.
Bailly had dropped his opening set against Matias Soto, but rallied for a tiebreaker win in the second to force a superbreaker where Soto ended up finishing with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (7) win. Soto grabbed the only break of the first set on a deuce point for a 2-1 lead on his way to a 6-4 win. He then broke again in the first game of the second set, but Bailly answered it and the set stayed on serve up to another deuce-point break for Soto that provided him a 5-4 lead. Bailly again broke back to return the set to being on serve where it stayed to the breaker. In that frame, Soto jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Bailly put together a 3-0 run of his own to even it. Soto claimed the next two points, but Bailly closed on a 4-0 spurt to go to the superbreaker in the third. Once there, Bailly got out to a 2-0 lead that he maintained up to 7-4, but Soto set out on a 6-0 run for his win.
In the other singles matches, sophomore No. 20 Micah Braswell fell to Adrian Boitan, 6-0, 6-3 at No. 1, sophomore No. 105 Siem Woldeab was topped by Marko Miladinovic, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 4, and sophomore Evin McDonald was downed by Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi, 6-2, 6-2.
Earlier in doubles, the Longhorns were broken in their first service game and trailed 2-0 in all three matches, but also rallied to tie or take the lead in all three. After falling behind, Woldeab and Bailly went on a 3-0 lead in their match against Soto and Mazzuchi at No. 2, but the Bears won the next two games on deuce points to retake the lead at 4-3 before winning, 6-4. Braswell and junior Chih Chi Huang were behind 4-0 in their match against Boitan and Tadeas Paroulek at No. 3, and they were trailing 5-1 when they went on a 4-0 run of their own with the last two coming on deuce points. However, Baylor was able to get more break and then held to clinch the point.
Texas had appeared to be on its way to a top-20 win at No. 1 doubles where the No. 13 duo of Ciamarra and Harper were leading No. 18 Bass and Lah in a tiebreaker, 5-2, but at that point play stopped when Baylor clinched the point. The Longhorns had been down 4-1 and 5-2, but went on a 3-0 run to tie it and each team then held to go to the breaker. Ciamarra and Harper once again came back in that frame, using a 4-0 run to end leading 5-2.
The Longhorns next return to Austin for a pair of weekend matches at the Texas Tennis Center, first against Rice on Friday at 5 p.m. CT, and then versus No. 25 UCF on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT.
#2 Baylor 6, #9 Texas 1
Singles – Order of Finish (4,6,1,5,3,2)
1. Adrian Boitan (BU) def. #20 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-0, 6-3
2. Matias Soto (BU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (7)
3. Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. #48 Sven Lah (BU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Marko Miladinovic (BU) def. #105 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 6-0
5. Finn Bass (BU) def. #73 Cleeve Harper (UT) 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (6)
6. Juampi Mazzuchi (BU) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3)
1. #13 Cleeve Harper/Richard Ciamarra (UT) vs. #18 Finn Bass/Sven Lah (BU) 6-6 (5-2), unf.
2. Matias Soto/Juampi Mazzuchi (BU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4
3. Adrian Boitan/Tadeas Paroulek (BU) def. Chih Chi Huang/Micah Braswell (UT) 7-5
Players Mentioned
