Mills, Reckewey Victorious at Drake Invitational

Des Moines, Iowa -- Nebraska senior Lance Mills and freshmen Joel Reckewey claimed the "A" and "B" flight championships, respectively, Sunday at the Drake Invitational.

Mills, who suffered an early exit at last week's ITA Pre-Qualifiers, won the "A" Flight singles competition, defeating Anthony Perkins of Drake, 6-3, 6-1. On Friday, Mills defeated Masimba Muskwe of Northern Iowa, 7-6 (9), 7-5 and Pierre-Marc Villenueve of Creighton, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Mills also took a match on Saturday, beating Bryan Endress-Fox of Drake, 6-2, 6-2.

In the "B" Flight, Reckewey had two wins going into Sunday's championship. In the first round, Reckewey was one of two players to enjoy a bye before facing Matt McClure of Drake in the second round. Reckewey beat McClure, 6-4, 6-3. Saturday, Reckewey defeated Ville Sippala of Northern Iowa, 7-6, 7-6. Reckewey won the "B" Flight by beating Predrag Pavlicic of Southwest Missouri State, 6-1, 6-4.

Freshman Jose Hernan, who also competed in the "A" Flight, won both of his matches on Friday. He faced Creighton's Oliver Floth and Northern Iowa's Zane Krog, defeating both players, 6-2, 7-5 and 6-3, 6-2, respectively. On Saturday, though, Hernan fell to Anthony Perkins of Drake, 4-6, 5-7.

Doubles action included the team of Mills/Hernan. Friday, the team beat Pavel Hanek/Rishi Garbharran of Southwest Missouri State, 8-6. Saturday, they defeated Felipe Montenegro/Matt McClure of Drake, 8-4, and Bryan Endress-Fox/Kirk Schuler, also of Drake, 8-4. Mills/Hernan was not able to pull off a sweep of the tournament, however. The team of Aaron Endress-Fox/Anthony Perkins from Drake won the doubles championship, beating Mills/Hernan by a score of 8-6.

Head Coach Kerry McDermott chose only three players in order to keep their full spring schedule. Each team is allowed 25 matches a year, but if three or less players travel to an event, it is not considered a team match.
The Huskers will be out of action until November, when they head to Eugene, Ore. for the University of Oregon Invitational, Nov. 2-4.