Huskers Enter Final Stretch of League Slate

The No. 60 Nebraska men's tennis team makes a quick turnaround this week as it gets back into conference action on Tuesday, March 29, against No. 43 Colorado. The Huskers and Buffaloes will begin play at 2 p.m. at the NU Varsity Courts, although it may move inside the Woods Tennis Center if inclement weather passes through the area.

Nebraska owns a 9-9 overall record after splitting four matches last week at the Boise State Red Lion Spring Invitational in Boise, Idaho. The Huskers easily ran past Marquette, 4-2, and New Mexico State, 7-0, while falling to NAIA No. 3 Santa Fe, 4-2, and No. 52 Ball State, 4-3.

The Huskers are looking for their first conference win of the season when they take on the Buffaloes. NU is 0-2 in league action after dropping a 7-0 contest to No. 1 Baylor in the second dual match of the season and falling to No. 13 Oklahoma State, 6-1, two weeks ago in Stillwater, Okla.

The matchup with Colorado will also be NU's fourth home meet of the season and first since Feb. 12. NU has five matches left during the regular season this spring, including three at home.

The Buffaloes enter the mid-week contest with a top-50 ranking despite carrying a 6-7 overall record. CU's mark is deceiving as the Buffs have played 12 ranked opponents during the spring season ? all but one match ? including five teams in the top 35 of the ITA rankings. Colorado owns a 1-4 record against top-35 teams, including a 4-3 upset of No. 24 Harvard. Overall, the Buffs own five wins this season over ranked teams.

Colorado is on the road for only the fourth time this spring when it plays the Huskers in Lincoln. CU is 0-3 away from Boulder this year, including losses to No. 31 Boise State, No. 64 Brigham Young and No. 69 Utah. The Utah match is one of two ? along with the contest against No. 26 Louisville ? that the Buffs lost by a single point, 4-3, to a ranked foe.

CU is led by Chad Tsuda, who owns an 8-2 spring record and is the only Buff with at least seven wins in dual match play this spring. He is 13-6 overall in 2004-05, one of four Buffs with at least 13 wins. Marcos Digliodo leads the team with 16 wins against 11 losses in 2004-05, including a 6-7 record in dual matches. Marek Dvorak is second with a 15-10 record (6-5 in spring dual matches) while Marko Bundalo is 14-12 overall and 3-8 in the spring, including a 1-7 mark at No. 1 singles.

Following this week's action, Nebraska gets back to the practice court for nearly two weeks as its next competition will be against No. 49 Oklahoma on April 9. The Huskers will play host to the Sooners at the NU Varsity Courts beginning at 1 p.m.

Rivera Leading the Way
Senior Jose Rivera is looking to go out on a positive note as he leads the team with a 15-7 record this spring. The Mexico City native was the first Husker to record double-figure wins this season, and is one of just two Huskers with at least 10 wins in the spring along with James Clow (11 dual match victories).

Rivera already has surpassed his single-season high for singles victories and has more wins than any Husker recorded all of last season. Rivera's previous single-season best was eight dual match singles wins last year. Overall, Rivera had 17 spring singles wins entering this season.

The 15 spring wins are the most by a Husker since Jorge Abos Sanchez recorded 17 wins in the 1999 spring season. Abos Sanchez finished that season with a 17-5 mark, the top winning percentage (.773) in the past decade. Only two other times in the past 10 years has a Husker recorded at least 15 spring victories, with those coming in 2002 (Kai Reike, 15-8) and 1998 (Dinko Verzi, 16-9).

Nebraska Continues Run in National Poll
The Cornhuskers remained in the ITA poll for the eighth straight week as they moved up to No. 60 nationally on March 22. The Huskers moved up for the second straight week and the current rank is Nebraska's highest since entering the poll at No. 55 on Feb. 1. The next ranking will come out on March 29.

After gaining a spot in the national polls, NU fell to No. 69 for two straight weeks before dropping to No. 74 on Feb. 22. The Huskers were then ranked No. 70 for two straight weeks before moving up four spots in the poll to No. 66 last week.

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.

Posch Begins to Hit Stride
Junior Jerry Posch has played at the No. 1 singles slot in 17 of 18 dual matches this spring and now owns an 8-9 record at the position, while holding a 9-11 mark overall. After struggling early in the season, Posch began to hit his stride recently, as he won three of four matches last week, including a pair of come-from-behind, three-set victories. Posch dropped the first set against Marquette's Eigis Vedrickas and No. 52 Ball State's Matthew Baccarani before surging for the win each time.