Baylor isn’t only home to the reigning Big 12 champions in the three major sports: Football, Men’s Basketball, and Women’s Basketball (that’s right—Baylor is the first ever Big 12 university to win football, men’s and women’s basketball regular-season championships all in the same year) as they host numerous top ranked teams in most of their programs. Yesterday, the 4th-ranked Baylor Men’s Tennis (26-3) team upset No. 1 TCU (the Bears were seeded at No. 2 with the Horned Frogs snagging the first spot), 4-2, at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth to earn the 2022 Big 12 tournament championship! With the tournament victory, Baylor notched their 3rd straight Big 12 title (excluding the cancelled 2020 season from COVID) from 2019, 2021, and yesterday’s 2022 honor. The 3rd straight conference championship added to the Bears’ 25th overall Big 12 title and the second under head coach Michael Woodson. Sophomore transfer and former TCU athlete Tadeas Paroulek was named Most Outstanding Player with an undefeated record after securing the match’s third point on a 7-5, 6-1 win against Pedro Vives Mardcos. Including yesterday’s match, the Bears are on a 7-match winning streak with victories against No. 44 Oklahoma State, No. 34 Oklahoma, No. 33 Texas Tech, Midwestern State, UT Tyler, and No. 12 Texas.
In the championship match that gave Baylor their 3rd straight title, the Bears won the doubles point with triumphs on courts 1 and 2. The doubles pair of Finn Bass and Sven Lah—ranked 6th nationally—defeated 2nd-ranked Luc Fomba and Jake Fearnley, 6-3, and 15th-ranked Matias Soto and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi followed with a 6-4 beatdown of 9th-ranked Sander Jong and Lui Maxted. Mazzuchi finished singles first on court 6, defeating Tomas Jirousek, 6-3, 6-1. Previously mentioned Paroulek added the Bears’ third point. On court 1, Adrian Boitan—ranked 3rd nationally—fell to 18th-ranked Fomba, 6-4, 7-5, for the Horned Frogs’ first point. TCU added their second and final point with 86th-ranked Fearnley toppling Bass, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 at the No. 4 position. 43rd-ranked Soto clinched the match for Baylor with a 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 6-3 comeback win against Juan Carlos Aguilar—ranked 14th in the country—at the No. 2 spot. The Bears are now awaiting their opponent in the NCAA tournament with the selection show occurring on May 2 at 5 p.m. (CT)!
