By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer <\/p>\n
Alexandru Chirita was down 2-0 in the third set of a heated battle on Court Four. The graduate stormed back to lead 3-2 with a pair of breaks, then found himself up 5-4 with match point. <\/p>\n
All eyes were on him and his opponent. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was locked in. I couldn\u2019t hear anything around me,\u201d Chirita said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure if it was 3-1 for us until I saw the scoreboard at deuce, match point for me.\u201d <\/p>\n
He lasered a ball to the right corner that met the back wall. His teammates rushed over to mob him with the roar of the Monday night crowd. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat gave me a little bit of pressure,\u201d Chirita said. \u201cBut I\u2019m always playing big in the big moments.\u201d <\/p>\n
His victory sealed the upset for Baylor (5-2), which marked its first ranked win of the season in the 4-1 win over No. 8 Texas A&M (6-1) on Monday night. <\/p>\n
The Bears previously fell to No. 8 San Diego and No. 4 TCU<\/a> earlier in the season. <\/p>\n Chirita and senior Zsombor Velcz started off the match with a dominant performance in doubles. The pair cruised to a 6-2 victory on Court Two.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m always comfortable to play with him on the court,\u201d Chirita said of Velcz. \u201cI can say that he\u2019s carrying me sometimes, but he\u2019s one of my best friends out here.\u201d <\/p>\n Junior Devin Badenhorst<\/a> and senior Luc Koenig did not fare so well. The duo was no match for Texas A&M\u2019s Theo Papamalamis and Togan Tokac, who won 6-1. The Aggies secured the doubles point on Court Three, defeating junior Connor Van Schalkwyk and freshman Blake Anderson<\/a> despite the Bears jumping out to a 2-0 lead. <\/p>\n \u201cDoubles was a bit of a tough one because we weren\u2019t playing bad, it\u2019s just that the two double faults from us on both deuce points was a tough one to take,\u201d Koenig said. \u201cThey were returning good, so you\u2019ve got to give a little bit of credit to them.\u201d <\/p>\n Baylor started to turn the tables in singles. The Bears won the first set in all six matches, capped off by Badenhorst\u2019s 7-5 victory that was welcomed by the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center crowd. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been something that we\u2019ve been talking about with the boys,\u201d Koenig said. \u201cWe lose the doubles point, something bad happens, what are we going to do when it happens? And we responded unbelievably in the singles.\u201d <\/p>\n Texas A&M was not going to go away without a fight. Tokac ignited the Aggies\u2019 rallies with a dominant 6-1 second set to send Court Five to a third set. Courts One, Four and Six followed behind. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to reset and recenter on the things that made us successful at the beginning,\u201d head coach Michael Woodson said. <\/p>\n Velcz was the first Bear to get the job done in two sets, winning 6-4, 6-4 to give his team its first point. <\/p>\n Koenig took care of business on Court Five, giving Baylor a 2-1 lead with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 victory. Van Schalkwyk added to the Bears\u2019 total with 6-4, 7-6 (3) win. <\/p>\n Baylor hopes to gain momentum with the upset. <\/p>\n \u201cThey know they have the level, and we all know we\u2019re a really good team,\u201d Woodson said. \u201cTo get the win, it gives them that confidence that, \u2018Hey, when we get into these dog fights \u2026 they\u2019re all going to be really close.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n