WACO, Texas – After making program history Saturday, the eighth-ranked Baylor men's tennis doubles tandem of Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz lost a three-set battle to No. 19 Lloyd Glasspool and Soren Hess-Olesen in the NCAA Doubles Championship semifinals Sunday at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The loss ended the duo's season, after winning three matches to open its championship run.
The BU tandem, which is ranked No. 8 in the country, won the first set over Texas' Glasspool and Hess-Olesen, but then lost the next two to drop the match 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
In the first set, Texas' Glasspool opened the match with a hold and then Galeano was broken to give the Longhorns a 2-0 lead. BU responded with six-straight game wins to take the opening set.
The Longhorns started the second-set out with a 3-0 advantage with two holds and another Galeano break. Five-straight holds later and the Bears had cut the lead to 5-3, but Glasspool held serve for the 6-3 triumph.
There were no breaks in the third and deciding set as Texas got the final hold to force the set into a tiebreaker at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Galeano opened serving and held for a 1-0 lead, but the Horns' Glasspool held his two service points for a 2-1 lead.
Galeano's slipped a running backhand through the middle of the court to tie the match 2-2, but then the Longhorns reeled off four straight points to establish a 6-2 advantage.
Despite Lenz's backhand slam at the net to bring the score to 6-3, the Longhorns closed out the tiebreaker with Glasspool serving out the tiebreaker.
The Baylor pairing had won 23 of their last 24 matches, before falling on Sunday. Galeano and Lenz conclude the season with a 26-3 record and a 14-2 mark against ranked foes. The 26 wins are tied for second-most in program history for a single season with Benedikt Dorsch and Reiner Neurehr's tally from 2002-03.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Galeano and Lenz were first BU duo to make the doubles semifinals.
TOP QUOTE #1
“It's all about executing. Yesterday, we executed better than they did, and today the Texas team executed better than we did. So, that's the difference. At this level you cannot miss easy volleys, that's what we did do today.” – Diego Galeano on the loss
TOP QUOTE #2
“I think being here four seasons. Every season is just different. Every season you learn something new, experience something new. It was just great, I just have to say thank you to all the coaches, all the staff who made all this possible. We have the nicest facilities and the best coach in the nation.” - Diego Galeano on his career
TOP QUOTE #3
“In the first set, we were actually dominating. Even though we were down 2-0, we were in every single rally. We did not execute quite as good as we wanted in the beginning, but then we picked that up and played way better. We lost a little bit of focus on the second set, dropped the service game right in the beginning, and then we ran behind and could not come back. In the third set, we were pretty close. Towards the end, Hess-Olesen was way better. He was really solid from the base line, which made it tough on us.” – Lenz on the match
WHAT'S NEXT
The loss concludes the 2014-15 season for Baylor.
