Huskers Fall to No. 28 Oklahoma State, 7-0

Lincoln -- Playing its final home match of the 2004 season, the Nebraska men's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision to No. 28 Oklahoma State Wednesday at the Cather-Pound Courts. With the loss, the Huskers fell to 8-10 on the season and 0-5 in Big 12 play while the Cowboys improved to 13-2 overall and 2-1 in league action.

"We came out and played some good doubles and had solid opportunities," said NU Coach Kerry McDermott. "We could have put some more pressure on and changed the momentum a little bit, but they are a good team and responded when they needed to to get the win."

On the hottest day of competition so far this spring as the temperature reached into the lower 80s, the Huskers pushed OSU at the final doubles positions. The Huskers' No. 2 tandem of Jose Rivera and Joerg Barthel nearly pulled ahead before Daniel Byrnes and Mark Van Elden edged out a 9-7 victory while OSU's Juan Felipe Diaz and Tomas Bohunicky had to hold on for an 8-6 victory over the Huskers' Ryan Jay and Gerhard Posch at the No. 3 position. NU's No. 1 doubles pair of Justin Junck and Joel Reckewey fell to Boris Kuharic and Yevgen Bondarchuk, 8-1.

In singles play, 30th-ranked Van Elden cruised past Posch, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 1 slot to remain undefeated on the season for the Cowboys at 15-0. Along with Van Elden, Bondarchuk, Byrnes and Diaz picked up straight-set victories at the Nos. 2, 4 and 5 slots, respectively.

Nebraska's Jeff Nabity won the first set for the Huskers at the No. 4 position before falling 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, to Kuharic. At No. 3 singles, NU's Rivera took the first set, 7-5, and trailed in the third 3-0 before suffering cramps. Rivera pushed forward to tie the score at 4-all before dropping the final frame 6-4 to Bohunicky. Both Kuharic and Bohunicky came into the match with just one loss this season.

Nebraska returns to action with three straight road contests before the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., on April 23-25. The Huskers face off against New Mexico State on Saturday, April 10, at 2 p.m. in Arlington, Texas, and follow up with an 11 a.m. match against host Texas-Arlington on Sunday, April 11. NU closes out the regular season on Saturday, April 17, at Oklahoma.

 

FINAL SCORE: No. 28 Oklahoma State 7, Nebraska 0
April 7, 2004 -- Lincoln, Neb.
Cather-Pound Courts

Singles
No. 1 No. 30 Mark Van Elden (OSU) def. Gerhard Posch (NU), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 Yevgen Bondarchuk (OSU) def. Joerg Barthel (NU), 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 Tomas Bohunicky (OSU) def. Jose Rivera (NU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 Boris Kuharic (OSU) def. Jeff Nabity (NU), 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
No. 5 Daniel Byrnes (OSU) def. James Clow (NU), 6-0, 6-4
No. 6 Juan Felipe Diaz (OSU) def. Joel Reckewey (NU), 6-3, 7-5

Doubles
No. 1 Boris Kuharic/Yevgen Bondarchuk (OSU) def. Justin Junck/Joel Reckewey (NU), 8-1
No. 2 Daniel Byrnes/Mark Van Elden (OSU) def. Joerg Barthel/Jose Rivera (NU), 9-7
No. 3 Juan Felipe Diaz/Tomas Bohunicky (OSU) def. Ryan Jay/Gerhard Posch (NU), 8-6