Huskers defeat Tech 4-3, advance to Big 12 Tournament Semifinals

College Station, Texas -- The No. 66 Nebraska men's tennis team defeated 32nd-ranked Texas Tech 4-3 for the second time this season, earning a spot in the Big 12 Championship semifinals. The Huskers, who improved to 10-11 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12 Conference, will play the winner of No. 1 seed Texas -- the nation's seventh-ranked team -- and eight-seeded Colorado Saturday at noon.

Fourth seeded NU led the match 3-2 after receiving victories from No. 2 Lance Mills, No. 3 Jorge Abos Sanchez and No. 4 Kai Rieke. The Red Raiders (15-9 overall and 4-5 in the league) evened the score when Borut Martincevic defeated the Huskers' Dinko Verzi 7-6 (8), 6-4 in a No. 1 singles battle. But Nebraska's Andrew Wiese rallied in a third set tiebreaker. Down 4-1 at one point, Wiese charged back, claiming a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) win over Tech's Dustin Hawk and sealing the vicotry for Nebraska.

"Coming in, I knew it would be a dog fight," NU Coach Kerry McDermott said. "We beat them 4-3 in a dual match earlier this season and come down to singles. It was almost the exact same situation today except we won the doubles point earlier in the year and lost it today. Our team just has real good fighters."

McDermott expects a similar fight tomorrow from the Huskers, who have won four of their last five matches.

"We played Colorado earlier this year and won 5-2," he said. "Texas killed us last year. Obviously, (if Texas wins) we would come as the underdog. We feel confident against Colorado, but I have told my kids that anything can happen in the semifinals. Now that we have made it there, we will play out and see what happens."

Nebraska (10-11) 4
Texas Tech (15-9) 3

Singles
No. 1 Borut Martincevic (TT) def. Dinko Verzi (NU) 7-6 (8), 6-4
No. 2 Lance Mills (NU) def. Ryan Shupe (TT) 6-4, 6-4
No. 3 Jorge Abos Sanchez (NU) def. Jevegeni Carlov (TT) 7-5, 6-3
No. 4 Kai Rieke (NU) def. Adam Baranowski (TT) 7-5, 6-3
No. 5 Peter Danolic (TT) def. Juan Hamdan (NU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 Andrew Wiese (NU) def. Dustin Hawk (TT) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)

Doubles
No. 1 Hawk/Shupe (TT) def. Verzi/Wiese (NU) 8-6
No. 2 Carlov/Baranowski (TT) def. Abos Sanchez/Mills (NU) 8-2
No. 3 Rieke/Ryan Haith (NU) def. Martincevic/Danolic (TT) 8-2