Jan. 23, 2016 Complete Results
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas - The fourth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team tallied a 4-1 triumph over No. 70 UC Irvine in the season-opening dual match Saturday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
In the first match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, Baylor took the doubles point with victories on courts one and two.
First, Max Tchoutakian and Felipe Rios carded a 6-1 win over Tyler Pham and Jonathan Hammel at the No. 2 spot. Shortly after, Julian Lenz and Will Little claimed a 6-2 victory against Justin Agbayani and Jonathan Poon at the top of the lineup.
UC Irvine rebounded in singles to win the opening point as freshman Tommy Podvinski dropped a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Vatsal Bajpai at the No. 6 position.
However, the Bears responded with three straight-set victories to close out the match.
Freshman Jimmy Bendeck secured a 6-1, 6-2 win against Agbayani at the No. 5 spot to put the Bears up 2-1. Meanwhile on court four, Little, a redshirt freshman, produced a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Luca Marquard.
To clinch the match, Rios, a senior, tallied a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Tyler Pham at the No. 3 spot.
Both Julian Lenz and Max Tchoutakian's matches went unfinished.
NOTABLES
- Baylor improved to 17-3 in season openers under head coach Matt Knoll.
- BU has won 20 of its last 21 home openers.
- Baylor has now competed in and hosted the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in six of the eight years of its existence, winning all 11 matches and advancing to the national event each year in each of its first five years of hosting duties.
TOP QUOTE #1
"The bottom line is that we are 1-0 on the season. We had three guys where it was their first dual match for them. You saw that at times, but overall I'm happy. The result counts, and at the end of the day we won 4-1 and got our first win." - assistant coach Dominik Mueller on the team's first dual-match victory
TOP QUOTE #2
"Overall, I was pleased with the energy that we brought. Everybody had a couple of things that they can improve. I think if we get one to two percent better on every court, then I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's small margins, and that's what it takes."- Mueller on adjustments for Sunday
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will now play No. 49 Oregon at 3 p.m. at the Hurd Tennis Center. The winner of that match will be one of 15 teams to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va, Feb. 12-15. Saturday's losers No. 56 Old Dominion and No. 70 UC Irvine will play at noon in the consolation match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Follow the official Twitter and Instagram accounts of the team: @BaylorMTennis for an inside look with results, photos and stories.
