Huskers Play Host to Oklahoma

The No. 71 Nebraska men's tennis team returns to action on Saturday, April 9 when it plays host to the No. 48 Oklahoma Sooners at the NU Varsity Courts. Play begins at 1 p.m. and admission is free.

 

Nebraska enters the matchup with a 9-10 record on the season, including a 1-5 mark against ranked opponents. The Huskers will also be looking for their first Big 12 Conference win of the season when they face the Sooners. Nebraska is 0-3 in league play after dropping a heartbreaker to No. 45 Colorado, 4-3, last week. Nebraska trailed 1-0 after the doubles point, and was down 2-0 before junior Jerry Posch earned his third straight win at the No. 1 slot to put the Huskers on the board. That win started a comeback for Nebraska, as NU pulled even by winning two of the next three matches.

 

Included in the comeback attempt was an exciting, if not improbable, 0-6, 6-4, 6-3, victory by Joerg Barthel over Chad Tsuda at the No. 6 slot. After being blanked in the first set, Barthel won the next two sets to knock off Tsuda, who entered the match with a team-best 8-2 dual match record this spring.

 

Coach Kerry McDermott said following the match that the doubles point was a key for the Huskers against CU, much like it will be Saturday against the Sooners.

 

Oklahoma has a formidable doubles lineup, headed by Silviu Tanasoiu and Marek Velicka at the No. 2 position. Tanasoiu and Velicka bring a 10-5 record into the matchup with the Huskers, where they will face Jose Rivera and Barthel, who have combined for just a 4-6 record at the position. OU's Tommy Garrison and Ondrej Fukala also have 10 wins this spring at the No. 1 slot, while Alexei Ivanov and Ryan Thomas are 8-4 at the No. 3 position. Ivanov and Thomas will face off against James Clown and Adrian Szatmary, who have a 5-2 mark together this spring, in the bottom of the order.

 

In singles play, Velicka is 13-4 at the top spot to lead the Sooners, while Fukala owns a 13-1 combined record this spring, including a perfect 6-0 mark at No. 2. Garrison is also 5-0 at the No. 4 position in 2005, and is one of six Sooners with at least 10 singles wins this spring.

Next Up for the Huskers
Following this weekend's action, Nebraska hits the road for a pair of matches on April 16 and 17 in the state of Texas. The Huskers face Texas A&M at 6 p.m. in College Station on Saturday, April 16, and finish the two-match swing with a 1 p.m. clash with the Texas Longhorns in Austin on Sunday, April 17.

 

Nebraska then ends the regular-season by facing its third straight opponent from the Lone Star state, when it takes on Texas Tech in Lincoln on Friday, April 22. The match against the Red Raiders ? which will also mark Senior Day for NU's two seniors, Joel Reckewey and Jose Rivera ? will begin at 2 p.m. at the NU Varsity Courts.

 

The Huskers then enter the Big 12 Championships on Friday, April 29. Texas will play host to the championships in Austin.

 

Posch Begins to Hit Stride
Junior Jerry Posch has played at the No. 1 singles slot in 18 of 19 dual matches this spring and now owns an 9-9 record at the position, while holding a 10-11 mark overall. Posch is one of three Huskers with double figure wins this spring.

 

After struggling early in the season, Posch began to hit his stride recently, as he won three of four matches at the Boise State Red Lion Spring Break Invitational, including a pair of come-from-behind, three-set victories over Marquette's Eigis Vedrickas and No. 52 Ball State's Matthew Baccarani. Last week against No. 45 Colorado, Posch picked up his third straight win and first Big 12 win of the season as he defeated Jan Zelezny, 6-4, 6-4, at the top position.

Nebraska Continues Run in National Poll
The Cornhuskers remained in the ITA poll for the 10th straight week despite falling to No. 71 nationally on April 5. The 10 straight weeks in the national poll is NU's longest run since at least 2000.

 

The Huskers moved up for two straight weeks before falling six notches to No. 66 on March 29. Nebraska's highest ranking this season came on Feb. 1 when the Huskers entered the poll at No. 55.  The next ranking will come out on April 12.

 

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.

Net Notes
Senior Jose Rivera leads the Huskers with a 15-8 record this spring, including 13 dual match singles wins...the 15 wins are just two off Rivera's career spring total entering this season...sophomore James Clow has 12 singles wins this season to rank second on the team, after posting just eight victories as a rookie last year...the tandem of Clow and Adrian Szatmary paces the Huskers with a 5-2 record in doubles action, all at the No. 3 slot.