Texas Tech Athletics
Baylor
Red Raiders go to Waco, host UCF for senior day
April 09, 2025 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech Red Raiders have two more regular season matches left this week. First, the Red Raiders travel to Waco, Texas to take on the No. 13-ranked Baylor Bears on Thursday at 6 p.m. Then, the team is back home at the McLeod Tennis Center for senior day as Tech welcomes the No. 18 UCF Knights on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Red Raiders (12-9, 2-4 Big 12) are 27-32 all-time against the Bears and 2-3 all-time against UCF. Baylor is on a four-match winning streak against Tech, with the Red Raiders last winning against the Bears, 4-3, on April 14, 2019. The Red Raiders have lost the last two meetings with the Knights, but won against UCF back on March 14, 2019, 4-2.
Freshman Ludovico Vaccari is leading the team with 12 dual singles wins. He recently took down TCU's Albert Pedrico, 6-3, 6-2, last week, giving Tech a singles point against the No. 2-ranked Horned Frogs – the first singles point against TCU in the Frogs' last five matches.
Just behind Vaccari in dual singles wins are Sebastian Abboud with 10 as well as Niksa Arsic and Thiago Guglieri with nine each. In dual doubles, Abboud and Pawlak lead the way with 11 wins, all coming at court one. The duo of Arsic and Guglieri are 9-2 on the season and a perfect 7-0 at court three.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The No. 13-ranked Baylor Bears are 20-8 overall and 5-1 in Big 12 play. The Bears are on a six-match win streak, getting key wins over Oklahoma State, UCF, BYU and Utah. Their lone loss in conference was to No. 15 Arizona on March 23. There are six Bears who tally double-digit wins in dual singles matches so far – Alexandru Chirita (13), Marko Miladinovic (13), No. 99 Zsombor Velcz (13), No. 39 Devin Badenhorst (11), Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (11) and Luc Koenig (11). In dual doubles, the No. 25 pair of Velcz and Poulsen lead the team with 10 wins, all at the top court.
No. 18 UCF is currently 17-7 overall and 3-3 in conference. The Knights have recently beaten Arizona State, Utah and Arizona, but fell to Baylor, BYU and TCU. There are two Knights ranked in singles as Yassine Dlimi checks in at No. 77 and Mehdi Benchakroun sits at No. 81. Benchakroun boasts 15 dual singles wins, mostly at court six, while Dlimi has nine wins at the top of the lineup. In doubles, the Knights have one duo ranked national in Liam Branger and Paul Colin, who check in at No. 56.
IN THE RANKINGS
Team
No. 13 Baylor
No. 18 UCF
No. 70 Texas Tech
Singles
No. 39 Devin Badenhorst (Baylor)
No. 77 Yassine Dlimi (UCF)
No. 81 Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF)
No. 99 Zsombor Velcz (Baylor)
Doubles
No. 25 Marko Miladinovic/Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (Baylor)
No. 56 Liam Branger/Paul Colin (UCF)
No. 62 Zsomber Velcz/Devin Badenhorst (Baylor)
No. 81 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen/Zsombor Velcz (Baylor)
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats and video will be available for both matches. Follow @TexasTechMTEN on X for updates and scores.
Players Mentioned
