No.19 MT Upsets No.3 Wake Forest in the ITA National Indoor Championship Quarterfinals

Saturday, February 14

Waco, Texas

3:30 pm

Baylor

Wake Forest

No.19 MT Upsets No.3 Wake Forest in the ITA National Indoor Championship Quarterfinals

2/14/2026 10:11:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

The Bears are onto the semifinals with a comeback victory over the Deamon Deacons

WACO, Texas – No. 19 Baylor men's tennis upset the reigning national champions of No. 3 Wake Forest 4-3 in the quarterfinal round of the ITA National Championship on Saturday afternoon, advancing to the semifinals held at Atlec Tennis Complex in Dallas.

The fifth-seeded Bears (7-2) defeated another top-10 team, making this the first time since 2021 they've beaten three top-10 teams in consecutive matches after taking down No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 UCF earlier this week at home. Tonight's comeback win also marks the first time Baylor has taken down Wake Forest since 2021.

After dropping the doubles point, BU put everything it had into singles to complete the comeback of the ages and advance to the semis, 4-3.

THE RUNDOWN
Wake Forest took early control by winning two competitive doubles courts to secure the opening point. The Bears' duo of Alexandra Churita and Zsombor Velcz topped the Deamon Deacons on the second court 6-3 for their second win of the week, but it wasn't enough to get Baylor on the board.

Singles started off with Louis Bowden narrowly dropping Court Six 6-4, 7-5 as well as Alexandru Chirita on Court Four falling 6-4, 6-4.

Baylor then goes on to pick things up and get two back-to-back victories with Connor Van Schalkwyk (6-4, 6-4) and Zsombor Velcz, 6-3, 7-6 (3), putting the Bears in good position but still being down.

With only two courts still playing, the Bears were trailing 3-2. After dropping the first set, Luc Koenig goes on to win the second and picks up the win in a tiebreaker third set in ultimate clutch fashion, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(3).

With the match tied at three-all, it all came down to Court One with junior caption Devin Badenhorst going head-to-head with Wake Forest powerhouse Suresh. Badenhorst sealed the trip to Dallas with a match of a lifetime, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). Badenhorst took the victory over No. 21 Suresh after going back and forth all match, but it was the Bear that came up clutch for Baylor.

UP NEXT
Baylor will play the third-seeded University of Texas in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor Championship at 6:30 pm CT on Monday, Feb. 16th at Atlec Tennis Complex.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH MICHAEL WOODSON
On today's match:
"I mean, what a college tennis match. It was interesting waiting around because the Texas and TCU match was such a battle, it was an incredible match. Felt like there's no way we're gonna be able to top that, I was very wrong.

"I was pleased with how we started in the doubles, but maybe a little bit tentative overall in some key situations and that's a team I feel like you have to win the double point against especially at home, and we didn't do that which was really tough, it was kind of a gut punch to us because we felt like we were the better doubles team, but our guys didn't go away.

"We only took two first sets, but it felt like our guys were battling. We got down on a couple of courts, but we were battling, battling, and battling. The great thing about what we've been doing is that we have a lot of belief. We've done it, we've seen the top level, we have confidence, and we know we belong. I think that really came out in the pressure situations, obviously a couple matches didn't go our way, but when our back was against the wall, we produced our best tennis. Yeah, really proud, especially of what Luc and Devin did, but sneaky impressive from Connor and Zsombor who just continue to win."

RESULTS
Doubles
1. #3 Andrew Delgado and Dhakshineswar Suresh (WF) def. Connor Van Schalkwyk and Luc Koenig (BU), 6-3
2. Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita (BU) def. Aryan Shah and Kacper Szymkowiak (WF), 6-3
3. Luca Pow and Charlie Robertson (WF) def. Blake Anderson and Devin Badenhorst (BU), 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles
1. #17 Devin Badenhorst (BU) def. #21 Dhakshineswar Suresh (WF), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4)
2. #106 Zsombor Velcz (BU) def. Aryan Shah (WF), 6-3, 7-6(3)
3. #41 Connor Van Schalkwyk (BU) def. #14 Luca Pow (WF), 6-4, 6-4
4. #102 Mees Rottgering (WF) def. #99 Alexandru Chirita (BU), 6-4, 6-4
5. Luc Koenig (BU) def. Charlie Robertson (WF), 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(3)
6. Joaquin Guilleme (WF) def. Louis Bowden (BU), 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 6, 4, 3, 2, 5, 1

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