No. 12 MT Upends No. 6 Wake Forest, 5-2

Thursday, February 6

Waco, Texas

5:00 p.m. CT

Baylor

Wake Forest

No. 12 MT Upends No. 6 Wake Forest, 5-2

2/6/2020 9:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Baylor earns its first top-10 victory of the season and fourth under Boland

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Facing a situation eerily similar to Saturday's 4-3 loss at Arkansas, the 12^th-ranked Baylor men's tennis team flipped the script.
            After playing passively and dropping a pair of critical three-setters against the Razorbacks, the Bears (6-1) rallied from first-set losses on three of four courts and pulled out a 5-2 win over sixth-ranked Wake Forest (5-1) Thursday night before a packed house at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center to win its 22^nd-consecutive home match.
            "I have always believed that if you can lose together and deal with adversity, you can win big," Baylor coach Brian Boland said. "Right now, we just need to continue to embrace each day because we're doing a really good job. I'm proud of the guys. It's an unbelievable group of young men that want to get better every day."
            It was fitting that Duke transfer Ryan Dickerson got the clinching point after losing a third-set tiebreaker at Arkansas that proved to be the difference.
Bouncing back from a 6-2 loss in the first set at No. 4, Dickerson took control of the match and dominated Henri Squire in the last two sets, 6-0, 6-3, to put the fourth point on the board for the Bears.
            "I actually learned my lesson when we played Arkansas," said Dickerson, who was winless against Wake Forest in his three seasons at Duke. "It was a pretty similar match. The guy was taking it to me the first set and playing a little bit more aggressively, and then I made the switch mentally that I was going to play first strike and keep the match in my hands. At the end of the match at Arkansas, I felt like I got a little tight closing it out. Today, I was like, 'I'm not going to make that same mistake again.'''
            Boland said Dickerson is a good enough defensive player to win that way as well, "but I think it's really important for Ryan, who has a huge game, to take advantage of it under pressure situations and come forward."
            Just like its previous six matches, Baylor won the opening doubles point. Sven Lah and Constantin Frantzen made quick work of Squire and Eduardo Nava, 6-2, at No. 1, and then freshmen Finn Bass and Sebastian Nothhaft clinched it with a 6-3 win at No. 3 over Bar Botzer and Morgan Dill.
            The tide seemed to turn in singles, with the Demon Deacons capturing four first sets and putting themselves in position to do what Arkansas was able to do on Saturday.
            That momentum shifted again, though, when Lah and Frantzen closed out straight-set sweeps at Nos. 2 and 6 singles, respectively.
            Using a dominant service game, the 82^nd-ranked Frantzen picked up his third ranked win of the year, beating No. 100 Siddhant Banthia, 6-3, 6-4, closing it out with an exclamation-point overhead winner.
            Up 5-3 in the second set, the 25^th-ranked Lah had a lapse and was broken by Taha Baadi before eventually winning it in a tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6 (6), and giving the Bears a 3-0 lead.
            "The character that these guys have, they have a lot of pride wearing the green and gold," Boland said. "They love playing for each other and for Bahlor and all the people that come out and support them. They're going to be gritty and relentless every single point."
            Nava got Wake Forest on the board by winning a first-set tiebreaker and getting a late service break in the second set to defeat Bass, 7-6(2), 6-4, at No. 5.
            Needing to win one of the three three-setters still on court, Baylor got the clinching point when Dickerson finished off Squire at No. 4. He improved to 5-2 in spring dual-match play and clinched his second match this season.
            Soto added his third ranked win of the season, upsetting the 44^th-ranked Botzer, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 1. Like Dickerson, he lost a three-setter against Arkansas.
            "Not necessarily that I clinched, but I felt like it was a good bounce-back for the team," Dickerson said. "Just having an away match where I felt like all of us as a whole played a little passive, a little tentatively. And then we came back against Wake, a better team, higher ranked, and we trusted ourselves. It just shows how good we are when we all trust our best."
            And the Bears have yet to have their full arsenal. First-semester freshman Alex Garcia made his debut on Wednesday, retiring in the third set trailing Meilos Efstathiou, 6-4, 5-7, 4-1, at No. 3, but freshmen Jenson Brooksby and Joseph Chen are still sidelined by injuries and sophomore Adrian Boitan has been out since the opening weekend.
            "It's one of those things where we want to make sure the guys get back to 100 percent before we put them back on the court," Boland said. "It's hard on everybody, but I have to trust (the trainers and doctors).
            "Everyone deserves the success we had tonight, but we've got to get back to work tomorrow because we play Penn on Saturday night. The Ivy League (teams) are tough, and they'll come ready to play."
            Baylor hosts Penn (3-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Hawkins Indoor Center, following a free children's clinic from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – After dropping its first match of the season, No. 12 Baylor men's tennis (6-1) returned home and bounced back with an emphatic 5-2 victory over No. 6 Wake Forest (5-1) on Thursday evening at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

Baylor earned its first top-10 win of the season and fourth under head coach Brian Boland. BU improved to 2-1 all-time against the Demon Deacons and 1-1 under Boland.

BU pushed its home win streak to 22 straight and have won 37 of its last 38 matches in Waco.

Baylor opened up doubles action with the advantage when 17^th-ranked Constantin Frantzen and Sven Lah recorded a 6-3 victory over Henri Squire and Eduardo Nava at the No. 1 spot. Then, sophomore Finn Bass and freshman Sebastian Nothhaft secured the opening point with a 6-3 victory over Bar Botzer and Morgan Dill on court three.

Wake Forest took the early momentum in singles play after taking four opening sets. No. 82 Constantin Frantzen then posted a 6-3, 6-4 win on court six to push the lead to 2-0.

No. 25 Lah made it a 3-0 advantage after battling to a 6-2, 7-6(6) triumph over Taha Baadi at the No. 2 spot. Wake Forest's Eduardo Nava defeated Finn Bass on court five, 7-6(2), 6-4 to get on the board for a 3-1 score.

Redshirt senior Ryan Dickerson secured the team win after he bounced back from a first set loss to take a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Henri Squire on court four.

Playing the rest of the matches out, Wake Forest won its final point after freshman Alex Garcia retired in his third set on court three. No. 67 Matias Soto closed out the night with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over No. 44 Bar Botzer on court one.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor has won 37 of its last 38 home matches dating back to 2017, including 22 in a row.
• Baylor had a season-high crowd of 421 at the match.
• Baylor is 7-0 in the doubles point and 6-1 when winning the doubles point this season.
• Baylor is now 1-0 against ranked opponents this season.
• Baylor has defeated 10 straight ranked opponents at home.
• Sven Lah improved to 7-0 in spring singles action.
• Ryan Dickerson clinched his second match this season and improved to 5-2 in singles play.
• Matias Soto is now 3-3 against ranked opponents this season.
• Lah and Constantin Frantzen improved to 7-0 in spring doubles play.
• Frantzen improved to 3-2 against ranked foes this season.
• Baylor leads the all-time series against Wake Forest, 2-1.

STAT OF THE MATCH
3 – the number of three-set matches in Thursday's match.

TOP QUOTE #1
Head coach Brian Boland
On the win…
"We knew it'd be a competitive match. Wake Forest has a great program. They're one of the best teams in the country. It was great to have the support we did with the Baylor fans today. They made a huge difference. We love our home court. I'm really proud of the guys after a tough weekend in Arkansas, but we're continuing to get better. I believe that if you lose together and can deal with adversity, you can win big. We need to continue to embrace each day. This is an incredible group of young men that want to get better every day."

TOP QUOTE #2
Redshirt senior Ryan Dickerson
On his three-set win…
"I actually learned my lesson when we played Arkansas. It was a pretty similar match. The guy was playing more aggressively than me but I made the switch mentally to play first strike and keep the match in my hands. At the end of the match in Arkansas, I felt like it got a little tight closing it out. Today I was like, 'I'm not going to make the same mistake again.' All week in practice I've been working first strike, and during the match I trusted it. That's what got me over the hump."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears stay home to face Penn on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center. As part of USTA Campus Kid's Day, there is a free kid's tennis clinic from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Participants are encouraged to RSVP.