Feb. 15, 2015 Complete Results
THE RUNDOWN
CHICAGO - After two wins over top-10 opponents, the 10th-ranked and 11th-seeded Baylor men's tennis team (6-2) came up short against No. 2 Oklahoma, 4-2, in the semifinal round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Sunday at Midtown Athletic Club.
The Bears had advanced to the semifinals of the national event by knocking off No. 6 Duke (4-1) and No. 3 Virginia (4-3).
As it had in its past seven matches, Baylor got off to a strong start by winning the doubles point. Vince Schneider and Felipe Rios improved to 5-1 in dual-match play with a 6-1 triumph over Jose Salazar and Alex Ghilea at the No. 3 spot.
Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano quickly closed out the point for the Bears with a 6-2 victory at court two over Spencer Papa and Andrew Harris. The BU duo upped its dual-match mark to 6-1.
In singles action, BU got in an early deficit by dropping four of six first sets. The Sooners turned that advantage into a quick 3-1 lead.
First on court three, No. 27 Tony Lupieri suffered a 6-4, 6-0 setback to 31st-ranked Dane Webb. Max Tchoutakian, ranked No. 67, was the next Bear to fall as he came up short against 11th-ranked Axel Alvarez, 6-4, 6-4, on court two. Despite forcing a third set at the No. 4 spot, Galeano was unable to the complete comeback over Papa, falling by a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 score.
Baylor's lone victory in singles came at the No. 6 position as Rios claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 triumph over Salazar.
Oklahoma took the match victory, after Mate Zsiga was unable to upset No. 63 Ghilea on court five. The BU senior had won the opening set 6-4, but Ghilea stormed back to capture the next two sets and the match, 7-5, 6-0.
NOTABLES
? The Bears have won all eight doubles points in their matches this season.
? Baylor now trails the all-time versus the Sooners, 21-20.
? BU now has a 20-17 all-time record in the indoor championships.
? The Bears are now 2-2 against top-25 opponents in 2015.
? In its third appearance in the semifinals, Baylor fell to 1-2 in the round (2003 - L, 2005 - W, 2015 - L)
TOP QUOTE #1:
"It was a great weekend for us. We are at a great place for the middle of February. We are right on schedule. We had several tough matches and we won a few and lost a few. We learned a ton about our team and we are going to be better for it." - head coach Matt Knoll on the ITA National Team Indoor Championships
TOP QUOTE #2:
"I think our doubles play is a product of the unity and team spirit that we have. The guys have really come together. When you get everybody all pushing together on a couple of courts - the energy level between partners and across the team raises everybody's level. The guys are really enjoying being out there and you see that in the way they are playing." - Knoll on the doubles success
TOP QUOTE #3:
"The biggest thing is that they are really good. They have good players and good players fight back. The biggest thing for us is we had opportunities in those matches. We really feel like we got a lot out of it and learned a lot about ourselves. There is things we could do better. We are going to get back to work when we get back to town and try to be ready the next time we play a great team." - Knoll on the loss to Oklahoma
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor returns to Waco for a four-match homestand, starting with No. 51 Purdue Friday at 3 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center. The 10th-ranked UCLA Bruins will then be in town Sunday at 12 p.m.
