Jan. 23, 2011
|  | | DOUBLES | SINGLES | F | | #1 | #2 | #3 | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | | | |  | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | 5 |
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| Singles | | Rux | | #1 | 7-6(7), 6-1 | Lacroix | Peers | 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 | #2 | | Bangoura | Ramirez | | #3 | 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 | Overbeek | | Maytin | | #4 | 7-6(2), 6-2 | Federhofer | Grangeiro | 1-6, 7-6(2), 1-0(7) | #5 | | Sililam | Bley | | #6 | 6-4, 6-3 | Butz |
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| Doubles | | Maytin/Peers | | #1 | 8-6 | Lacroix/Sililam | Ramirez/Rux | | #2 | 9-7 | Bangoura/Butz | Bley/Grangeiro | 8-5 | #3 | | Federhofer/Overbeek |
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The seventh-ranked Baylor men's tennis team suffered its first loss in the month of January since 2009 as the Bears were beaten by No. 9 Florida, 5-2, on Sunday at Linder Stadium in the Ring Tennis Complex.
Baylor (1-1) fell behind quickly by losing the doubles point two matches to one and the Bears were unable to rebound as Florida (2-0) grabbed the first three singles matches to secure the victory. Baylor's last loss in the year's first month came in its last trip to Gainesville on Jan. 25, 2009, 7-0, to the 10th-ranked Gators.
"We are here to win the team match, but you feel good at least that a couple guys had positive outcomes," head coach Matt Knoll said. "If we look back in a year and this is where we all decided we were going to fight harder and compete harder and we get better then this helped us. If this is indicative of a long term trend then it doesn't help us. We are going to find that out in the next couple of weeks."
In doubles action, the fourth-ranked duo of Roberto Maytin and John Peers suffered an 8-6 loss to No. 11 Alex Lacroix and Nassim Slilam at the No. 1 position. The match featured seven breaks with the Bears grabbing a 4-2 lead, before the Gator team roared back to win the next three games with a hold sandwiched in between two breaks to take a 5-4 lead. The Bears answered back with a break and a hold of their own, but Lacroix and Slilam responded with three games won in a row to take the match, 8-6.
The Baylor duo on court three would tie the doubles point at one point apiece as Julian Bley and Kike Grangeiro got the better of Billy Federhofer and Bob van Overbeek, 8-5. The match was knotted at four games apiece, before Bley and Grangeiro got a break and then a hold to go up 6-4. Florida would hold the next game to get the match to 6-5; however the Bears won the next two games to earn the 8-5 victory.
As the match on court two wrapped up the contest on court three was led by Florida's Sekou Bangoura and Andrew Butz 7-6. Sergio Ramirez and Jordan Rux fought back to break the next game for a 7-7 tie. After the tie the Florida duo would take the next two games for a 9-7 match win and to claim the doubles point for the Gators.
"I thought we came out well in doubles with good energy at the beginning of the matches," Knoll said. "We had some opportunities. We broke early at one and three, but they didn't go our way, and two was pretty close all the way through."
Down a point heading into singles, the Gators would quickly ended Baylor's hopes at a comeback as Slilam beat Maytin on court four 7-6(2), 6-2 and then fourth-ranked Lacroix got past Rux at the No. 1 spot 7-6(7), 6-1. The loss drops Maytin to 1-1, while Rux starts 0-2 for the first time ever in dual match play.
Florida would go on to clinch the match as Butz got past Bley at the sixth position, 6-4, 6-3. It was Bley's first dual match loss since April 10, 2010, to Vasko Mladenov of Texas. The German, native, had reeled off eight straight wins, before the setback.
"I think singles was kind of the same as doubles," Knoll said. "We served for the first set at one and four, but didn't get either one of those."
With the match decided, Baylor won the next two matches as 22nd-ranked John Peers defeated No. 28 Sekou Bangoura in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 and Kike Grangeiro came back from a first set loss to beat 1-6, 7-6(2), 10-7.
"I thought the one really good competitive match from us was Kike at five," Knoll said. "He got blown out in the first and then came out and won a tough tiebreaker and a super tiebreaker.
"John also got off to a good start and had a chance to maybe get off a little sooner to give us some momentum, but he got a win against a very good player and that will certainly give him confidence going forward."
In the last match on Ramirez dropped a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 decision to 52nd-ranked Bob van Overbeek.
With the loss the series record between the Bears and Gators is now tied at five matches each with Florida holding a 3-1 advantage in matches played in Gainesville. The loss is the Bears' first road opening loss since 2006 and Baylor falls to 10-5 in such matches in Matt Knoll's career at Baylor.
Baylor will now return to the Baylor Tennis Center to host Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday at 3 p.m. Live scoring for the match will be available on BaylorBears.com.
