Huskers Hit the Road for HEB Championship

The No. 70 Nebraska men's tennis team returns to action for the first time since Feb. 20, when it hits the road to compete in the H.E.B. Collegiate Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 4-6. The field will be divided into brackets and teams will play a dual-match format. Every team is guaranteed to play at least four matches on the weekend, including two matches on the first day.

"This is a good tournament for us and it is coming at a good time as we are starting to get some players back into good health," said NU Coach Kerry McDermott. "There are five ranked teams in the field, including us, and some good competition throughout the brackets. We haven't been to this tournament for a few years, but it will be good experience to play four matches in three days."

The Cornhuskers open the weekend against Texas-Arlington on Friday, March 4 at 8:30 a.m. and then take on No. 42 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the tournament's No. 4 seed, at 2 p.m. that afternoon.

The tournament field includes four ranked teams in No. 32 South Alabama (No. 2 seed), No. 35 Texas Tech (No. 3 seed) and No. 37 Middle Tennessee State (No. 1 seed), along with the Huskers and TAMU-CC. Other teams competing for the team title this weekend are: Western Michigan, Wichita State, New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana, Cornell, UAB, Arkansas-Little Rock, Saint Louis and Texas-Arlington.

A trio of individuals ranked in the top 90 nationally lead the way at the event. Freshman Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech is ranked No. 26 in the country with a 14-4 singles record and rides a four-match win streak into the tournament. Also competing this weekend will be No. 64 Franticek Babej of South Alabama, who is 11-1 in 2004-05 with three wins against ranked opponents, including an upset of No. 22 Fabrizio Sestini of TCU, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, on Feb. 23. The final ranked player in the field is No. 87 Andreas Siljestrom of Middle Tennessee State, who has posted an 18-7 record in fall and spring play.

Nebraska has already faced Wichita State this season and earned a 5-2 victory at home on Feb. 12. The Huskers' experience playing in a dual-match format could pay off for Nebraska this weekend, according to McDermott.

"Competing outdoors for the first time this season will take a little while to get used to, but it will be a good way to see where we are right now," McDermott said. "We are looking forward to playing in this format, because the guys have really started to play for each other and play for every point. They are performing for the team, instead of individually."

Huskers Start Finding Right Combinations in Doubles Play
After struggling early in the season, the Huskers have started to find the right combinations in doubles play. The recent lineup changes have helped Nebraska pick up three straight doubles points in dual matches, after winning just one doubles point in the first seven matches of the season.

Nebraska posted seven wins in nine doubles matches in its last weekend of competition (Feb. 18-20) as the Huskers went 2-1. Before that strong showing, NU had a 9-20 record in doubles play to open the season.

Joel Reckewey and Jerry Posch have won two of their last three doubles matches together and own the most wins (3) of any Husker tandem this season at the No. 1 position. Despite Reckewey and Posch's strong showing recently, the Huskers' hottest duo has been Adrian Szatmary and James Clow, as the sophomores have paired together the past three dual matches for a 3-0 record, all at the No. 3 doubles position. Nebraska owns a 6-4 season record at No. 3 doubles, its only winning position in doubles play.

Nebraska Continues Run in National Poll
The Cornhuskers remained in the ITA poll for the fifth straight week as they were ranked No. 70 on March 1. Nebraska entered the poll at No. 55 on Feb. 1, and fell to No. 69 for two straight weeks before dropping to No. 74 on Feb. 22. The Huskers were off the past week, but moved up four spots in the poll.

Nebraska was ranked once last season when it came in at No. 75 for one week. Before that, NU's last appearance in the ITA national rankings came in 2002 when the Huskers spent eight weeks ? including seven consecutive ? in the poll and finished the year at No. 72.

Clow Providing Strong Support
Sophomore James Clow has come on strong for the Huskers after getting settled into the grind of Division I play. The Durban, South Africa, native owns an 8-4 overall record this spring, but is 8-2 in dual matches and has won seven of his last eight dual matches. Clow ended last season winning six of his last 11 matches after dropping eight of his first 10 to open his career. Clow's eight dual match victories ranks second on the team this spring.

After playing primarily at the No. 4 slot or lower last season and early this year, Clow has made an impressive run recently as he was inserted into the lineup at the No. 2 singles slot three weeks ago. Since then, he has posted a 4-1 record at the No. 2 spot, and has helped NU to a winning record at five of the six singles slots.

Rivera Finding His Groove
Senior Jose Rivera has started to provide a strong presence on the court for the Huskers in 2004-05, and the results have been impressive. The Mexico City, Mexico, native leads Nebraska in singles wins this spring with 10, two more than second-place James Clow.

Rivera's 10 singles wins this spring are more than any Husker posted all of last spring, and are the most he has ever recorded in spring play. It equals his fall season high of 10 wins in 2003, and since the start of that 2003 fall campaign, Rivera has posted a team-best 33 singles victories. No current Husker has previously won 10 singles matches in spring play in their career.