WACO, TX — No. 6 Baylor men’s tennis (17-2) battled back from an early deficit and used five singles wins to put away No. 35 Arizona State (6-9) Friday night at the Hurd Tennis Center.
Baylor is now 26-1 in its last 27 home matches, but it was the first time this season the Bears had to battle from behind after dropping the doubles point.
Constantin Frantzen and Johannes Schretter struck first on court three when they took down Justin Roberts and Benjamin Hannestad, 6-2. However, top-ranked Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah couldn’t dig themselves out of an early hole to fall 6-3 to No. 18 Nathan Ponwith and Dominik Kellovsky.
Trailing 4-2, the duo of Will Little and Matias Soto battled back to tie it at 5-5 but ultimately fell 7-5 to 56th-ranked Tim Ruehl and Andrea Bolla at the No. 2 spot to give Arizona State the 1-0 advantage.
The Bears came storming back in singles action and took five of six opening sets. Bendeck got Baylor on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Benjamin Hannestad at the No. 6 spot, followed by Adrian Boitan’s 6-1, 6-1 win against Andrea Bolla on court four.
45th-ranked Matias Soto made it a 3-1 Baylor lead after he took care of Dominik Kellovsky at the No. 2 spot, winning 6-2, 6-3, but Will Little’s 7-5, 6-1 loss to Justin Roberts on court three made it a 3-2 score.
40th-ranked Schretter held off a late surge from No. 55 Nathan Ponwith and won the final three games to earn a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory at the top of the lineup to clinch the match.
Electing to play the final match out, Lah bested Tim Ruehl in three sets on court five, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
