May 20, 2011 | | | DOUBLES | SINGLES | F | | #1 | #2 | #3 | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | | | |  | | | | | | | 3 | | | | | |
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| Singles | Result | Kosakowski d. Peers 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
| | Inbar d. Ramirez 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-2
| | Rux d. Thompson 7-6(5), 6-1
| | Puget d. Maytin 7-6(3), 6-2
| | Grangeiro d. 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(8)
| | Bley d. Tabatruong 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
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| Doubles | Result | Peers/Maytin d. Puget/Brigham 9-7
| | Ramirez/Rux d. Indbar/Hardie 8-5
| | Kosakowski/Seguso d. Bley/Grangeiro 8-3
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STANFORD, Calif. - Baylor's men tennis team produced a dramatic 4-3 win over UCLA in the NCAA Championship round of 16 on Thursday night and advanced to the tournament quarterfinals for the ninth straight time and 10th time overall.
The match began 90 minutes late and lasted four hours and 44 minutes. It marked the eighth straight 4-3 match between the Bears and the Bruins including a 4-3 UCLA win in Waco earlier this season. The victory raised Baylor's season record to 22-4 while 11th-ranked UCLA ends its season at 18-7.
The Bears took the doubles point from the Bruins with it coming down to the last match on. On court three, the UCLA tandem of Daniel Kosakowski and Holden Seguso rallied from a 1-3 deficit to win seven straight games and claim a win over BU's Julian Bley and Kike Grangeiro. Baylor would counter with an 8-5 win on court two by 52nd-ranked Sergio Ramirez and Jordan Rux over 57th-ranked Warren Hardie and Amit Inbar. When court two finished, Baylor's John Peers and Roberto Maytin, ranked No. 5, led the 32nd-ranked UCLA duo of Alex Brigham and Adrien Puget , 7-6. However, Brigham held serve to even the match at 7-7. Maytin would hold his serve then the Baylor pair broke Puget's serve to claim the 9-7 victory and clinch the doubles point.
Rux put Baylor up 2-0 with a straight sets win over Clay Thompson, 7-6(5), 6-1. The victory marked Rux's ninth straight win. UCLA then posted wins on court two and four when Inbar downed Ramirez, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-2, and Puget defeated Maytin, 7-6 (3), 6-2. Bley, playing at No. 6, gave Baylor a 3-2 lead when he downed Maxime Tabatruong in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
At that point, courts one and five were in their third set each. At No. 1, Peers had lost the first set 4-6 but rallied to win the second 7-5. After Peers took a 3-1 lead, the match eventually was tied at 4-4 then Kosakowski broke Peers' serve and then held his own serve to win the third set 6-4.
Grangeiro dropped the first set to Seguso 3-6 then countered with a 6-2 second-set victory. When the match at No. 1 ended and Grangeiro was trailing 4-2 in the third-set tiebreaker. Grangeiro fought off two match points by Seguso and eventually pulled out a 10-8 tiebreak win to clinch his second straight match for the Bears.
"The thing that stands out is that we had the exact same match with them in February in Waco. That one they won 11-9 in third set tiebreaker. The two teams just couldn't be any closer. I thought we fought incredibly hard and honestly was really proud of both teams. It was just kind of a coin flip today and we were lucky to get the win," said head coach Matt Knoll.
"I thought it was a great effort from all of our guys. I knew I needed to give it everything that I have, I wasn't feeling my best at the end of the match but we are all warriors, we can't get tired before the others. It feels really great, I'm proud of all the guys, " said Grangeiro.
Baylor will now face fourth-seeded Ohio State (33-2) at 6 p.m. (CDT) on Saturday, May 21. Ohio State defeated Tulsa, 4-0 in the round of 16.
