WACO, Texas -- No. 14 Baylor was able to stave off an early deficit in the deciding third-set tiebreaker at No. 5 singles to hold off No. 31 Cornell 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the Hurd Tennis Center. The Bears improved to 11-6, while the Big Red slipped to 9-5.
Adit Sinha's straight-sets victory over No. 96 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen at No. 2 highlighted three singles victories for the Big Red, with
Rodrigo Fernandes at No. 4 and
Felipe Pinzon at No. 6 also winning in straight sets. Two of Cornell's losses, both at No. 3 and No. 5, came in straight sets, including the deciding tiebreaker victory by Baylor from Alexandru Chirita, The Baylor graduate student rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the seven-point tiebreaker to close out the match with seven consecutive points to pick up the 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 triumph.
Baylor earned the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to get off on the right foot, with the Big Red's lone win a 6-4 triumph at No. 2 from Mao and Papoe, who captured a 6-4 victory over No. 79 Badenhorst and Luc Koenig.
The Big Red returns to action when it hosts No. 74 St. John's on Saturday, March 15 at noon at the Reis Tennis Center.
#14 Baylor 4, #31 Cornell 3
Doubles
1. #15 Marko Miladinovic/Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (Baylor) defeated
Rushil Khosla/
Eric Verdes (Cornell), 6-3
2.
Nathan Mao/
Radu Papoe (Cornell) defeated #79 Devin Badenhorst/Luc Koenig (Baylor), 6-4
3. Louis Bowden/Zsombor Velcz (Baylor) defeated
Jack McCarthy/
Adit Sinha (Cornell), 6-3
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. #40 Devin Badenhorst (Baylor) defeated #44
Radu Papoe (Cornell), 6-2, 7-5
2.
Adit Sinha (Cornell) defeated Oskar #96 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (Baylor), 6-3, 6-3
3. #99 Zsombor Velcz (Baylor) defeated
Jack McCarthy (Cornell), 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
4.
Rodrigo Fernandes (Cornell) defeated Luc Koenig (Baylor), 6-4, 6-2
5. Alexandru Chirita (Baylor) defeated
Nathan Mao (Cornell), 6-7, 6-1, 7-6
6.
Felipe Pinzon (Cornell) defeated Louis Bowden (Baylor), 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 1, 2, 6, 3, 5
