Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Fall to No. 2 Baylor
April 15, 2004 | Cowboy Tennis
OSU (13-3, 2-2) came out aggressive to begin doubles' play. The Cowboys grabbed leads in all three matches, but could not close any of them out. Boris Kuharic and Yevgen Bondarchuk led No. 20 Benedikt Dorsch and Matija Zgaga 7-4. Dorsch and Zgaga rallied and took the match to a tiebreaker that they eventually won.
Baylor (22-2, 7-0) quickly won three singles' matches in straight sets to clinch the match. The final three matches all went down to the wire in three sets.
Tomas Bohunicky dropped the first set to No. 90 Matias Marin 6-4. Bohunicky came back to win the second set 6-2. The third set was even, but Marin was able to win a break that proved to be the difference and won the third set 6-4.
Boris Kuharic was the only Cowboy to win a first set, but he dropped the final two to Matija Zgaga. In the third set, Kuharic trailed in the third set 5-2, but rallied to take a 6-5 advantage. Zgaga forced a tiebreaker, and eventually came out on top.
The match of the day was played at No. 1 singles. Undefeated Mark Van Elden faced Baylor's third-ranked Dorsch. Dorsch won eight of the first nine games to claim the first set and he held a three to one lead in the second set.
Van Elden kept his composure and rallied to win the next five games and take the second set 6-3. In the third set, Van Elden went up a break to take 4-2 lead. Dorsch got the break back and evened the match up at four. Dorsch then went on to close out the match and gave Baylor the shutout with a 6-4 win in the third set t give Van Elden his first loss of the season.
“The mark of a really great team is when things get close, being able to pull it out,” OSU head coach James Wadley said. “We just did not have enough experience to make the great shots and the end to pull out these close matches.”
“Oklahoma State is a great team,” Baylor head coach Matt Knoll said. “We have played all over the country and OSU is without a doubt a top 15 team. We feel real fortunate to get out of here with a win.”
The Cowboys will look to rebound against conference rival Oklahoma on Wednesday. The Sooners are 15-5 and 1-3 in Big 12 play after falling to Baylor yesterday. The match is slated to begin at 2 p.m. at OSU's DeBois tennis Center.
No. 2 Baylor 7, No. 26 Oklahoma State 0
Singles
No. 1 No. 3 Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. No. 25 Mark Van Elden (OSU) 6-1, 3-6, 4-6
No. 2 No. 10 Benjamin Becker (BU) def. Yevgen Bondarchuk (OSU) 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 No. 90 Matias Marin (BU) def. No. 109 Tomas Bohunicky (OSU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
No. 4 No. 102 Matija Zgaga (BU) def. Boris Kuharic (OSU) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6
No. 5 Reiner Neurohr (BU) def. Daniel Byrnes (OSU) 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 Ivor Lovrak (BU) def. Juan Felipe Diaz (OSU) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 No. 20 Dorsch/Zgaga (BU) def. Bondarchuk/Kuharic (OSU) 9-8
No. 2 No. 25 Becker/Marin (BU) def. Van Elden/Byrnes (OSU) 8-6
No. 3 Neurohr/Lovrak (BU) def. Bohunicky/Diaz (OSU) 9-7
