Sports Briefs
A&T Claims Sixth Straight NCATA National Title
Acrobatics and tumbling ended the season the same way it has every year since 2015 — hoisting the national championship trophy. Every year, that is, except for last year when the season was abruptly halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This one feels a bit different than years past,” Camryn Bryant, who returned for a “second” senior season, said. “I wanted this team to make it to another level, and we sure did. The upperclassmen relied on the sophomores and freshmen a lot, and they came through. We all came through.”
Baylor defeated top-ranked Azusa Pacific 279.790-276.465 in the NCATA Championship Final. The Bears have won every title since head coach Felecia Mulkey joined the program. Mulkey, who won four straight titles at Oregon before coming to Baylor, now has 10 straight championships.
“Azusa Pacific was awesome, and they kept bringing it and bringing it,” Mulkey said. “Our team wasn't as great as we wanted to be, but it was enough.”
Men’s Tennis Narrowly Misses National Title
Baylor or Florida. One of those two teams sat atop the Oracle/ITA NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Rankings each week from March 30 forward. It was fitting, then, that the Bears and Gators met May 22 in the championship match of the NCAA Tournament at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
After Baylor (34-5) claimed the doubles point, Florida (26-2) built off the momentum of a first-set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles to rapidly win four straight singles matches and the program’s first national title. It was Baylor’s first NCAA National Championship Match since consecutive appearances in 2004 and 2005, winning the first year. The Bears set a program record for wins in a season.
Michael Woodson, who was elevated to head coach from interim status May 6, was proud of his team’s accomplishments.
“I can't think of a group of guys that have epitomized what it is to be a team more than this group,” Woodson said. “That’s what carried them this far in the season.”
Sophomore Adrian Boitan reached the national semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship, while Constantin Frantzen and Sven Lah reached the national semifinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship. All three earned All-America honors. It marked the first time Baylor had representatives in the national semifinals in singles and doubles in the same season. Boitan, who was unseeded in the tournament, became the first Bear to reach the singles semifinals since Benedikt Dorsch in 2005.
Women’s Golf Finishes 14th at Nationals
Baylor Women’s Golf carded a four-round total of 30-over par at the NCAA Championship, failing to advance to match play by nine collective strokes. It was the fourth top-15 finish in the last six NCAA Championships for a program that had never finished that high prior to that stretch.
“We were deserving to be here with the great season we had,” Head Coach Jay Goble said. “This team had a great year, and they’re a fantastic group. We have a very young team, and the future is bright.”
Baylor won six events in the regular season, a program record, and posted a team scoring average below par for the year. Four of Baylor’s five-member lineup at the 2021 NCAA Championship return next season.