April 10, 2010
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| Singles | | | Kutrovsky |
| #1 | 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 | Lukacs | | Corrie | 6-2, 6-3 | #2 | | Rux | | Damico | 6-1, 6-3 | #3 | | Bucko | | Andersen | | #4 | 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
| Maytin | | Zavala |
| #5 | 6-4, 7-6(2) | Mueller | | Mladenov | 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 | #6 | | Bley |
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| Doubles | | | Kutrovsky/Zavala | | #1 | 9-8 (4) | Lukacs/Maytin | | Corrie/Damico | 8-4
| #2 | | Bucko/Bley | | Andersen/Whitehead | 8-5 | #3 | | Rux/Mueller |
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WACO, Texas- The ninth-ranked men's tennis team suffered its second loss in four days as the Bears fell to fifth-ranked Texas, 4-3, on Saturday night at the Baylor Tennis Center.
Baylor (16-5, 0-2) fell behind in the match 3-0, before staging a comeback to tie the match at three, but Texas (21-2, 4-0) claimed the last singles match on the court to earn the victory.
"The key to the match was we just got knocked out at two singles matches so quickly," head coach Matt Knoll said. "We are just not good enough right now. I think we can be good enough and we are excited about trying to get better. This week showed us we have some work to do."
The loss, coupled with Wednesday's defeat at No. 12 Texas A&M, gives the Bears an 0-2 start for the time ever in Big 12 play and its first back-to-back losses in conference action for the first time since losing on March 21 and 22, 1997, to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in Knoll's first year at Baylor.
Baylor, also saw its 18-match home win streak snapped with the loss. The Bears are now 12-1 at the Baylor Tennis Center this season and had not lost in Waco since March 21, 2009, to USC, 4-3.
The Bears started the match off by dropping the doubles point for the sixth time in their last nine matches. Texas won at the second and third spots as 18th-ranked Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico beat No. 78 Attila Bucko and Julian Bley, 8-4. Then 56th-ranked Jean Andersen and Daniel Whitehead beat Jordan Rux and Dominik Mueller, 8-5. Baylor did take the final doubles match when Denes Lukacs and Roberto Maytin squeaked past sixth-ranked Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala, 9-8 (7-4). The Baylor duo is now 10-3.
Texas carried the momentum over from its doubles win and rolled to victories in the first two singles matches to send the Bears to the 3-0 deficit. The 82nd-ranked Damico first got past 109th-ranked Bucko 6-1, 6-3 at the third spot and then 18th-ranked Corrie beat 32nd-ranked Rux 6-2, 6-3. It was the second straight loss for both Baylor players and it marked the first time this season that either of the players had lost back-to-back matches.
However, the Bears would then mount their comeback attempt as Maytin got his first Big 12 win with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Andersen at the four spot. The freshman is now 11-4, while winning six of his last seven. Next, Mueller took down 81st-ranked Zavala 6-4, 7-6(2) at the five position. For Mueller (15-4), it was his first win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 113 Matt Allare of Ohio State on May 18, 2009. Lukacs would then tie the match as he defeated 10th-ranked Kutrovsky, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. The 19th-ranked senior snapped a two-match losing streak and improved his Big 12 all-time record to 19-1.
"I thought again that group of guys fought hard," Knoll said of his three winning singles players. "We are getting better. We played a really good team. We have got to keep working, keep improving."
With the match now knotted at three, the attention turned to the No. 6 match where Julian Bley had won the opening set 6-3, but then lost the second 6-2. When Lukacs' match wrapped, Bley was down 5-4 in the third, after winning the previous two games, but was unable to break Vasko Mladenov's serve again to extend the match.
"I thought Julian (Bley) fought his tail off," Knoll said. "I have a lot of respect for Julian's effort and energy down the stretch, but we just didn't get to the finish line tonight."
The loss guarantees that the Bears will not have a chance to win their ninth-straight Big 12 regular season title.
"We are not going to win the league and that is tough to swallow, but it is a tough league and that is the way life goes," Knoll said. "We have an opportunity to play well and hopefully play better in the conference tournament and play well in the NCAAs. If we do that no one is going to remember what happened in early April if we play great in late May."
Baylor will return to action on Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center when they face 38th-ranked Nebraska (13-8, 1-2) at 6 p.m. Live results of the match will be available on BaylorBears.com.
"We have to play better," Knoll said. "Nebraska is very good. They are playing extremely well. It is going to be a challenge for us. Hopefully, we are good enough to meet the challenge."
