Huskers Fall in Regular-Season Finale

Lincoln --- The No. 74 Nebraska men's tennis team dropped its sixth straight contest Friday as it fell to No. 10 Texas Tech, 7-0, on a cool and windy day at the NU Varsity Courts.

 

Playing in wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour and dropping temperatures all afternoon, the Red Raiders took control of the match early and never let up. Despite the setback, Coach Kerry McDermott was still upbeat about his team's perseverance against its 10th ranked opponent this season.

 

"We had some opportunities and thought the wind might be a little bit of an equalizer today," McDermott said. "But they played a little better and caught a few breaks where we didn't. Our guys are fighters and we love playing in such at tough conference. It's a challenge and our players enjoy that. We just did not come out top."

 

The Red Raiders, who are the second-highest ranked team in the Big 12 Conference behind only No. 1 Baylor, swept the doubles point. Michael Innerebner and Jakob Paulsen notched an 8-6 victory at the No. 3 position over James Clow and Adrian Szatmary, snapping the Husker duo's three-match conference win streak. With the loss, Clow and Szatmary finished the regular season with a team-best 8-3 doubles mark, all that No. 3 slot.

 

Texas Tech quickly wrapped up the match in singles play as 14th-ranked Radek Nijaki ran past Jerry Posch, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot while Esat Tanik handed Jose Rivera a 6-4, 7-6 (2), loss at No. 4 singles. The Red Raiders clinched the match with Paulsen's 7-6 (3), 6-4, victory over Clow at the No. 3 position.

 

Nebraska nearly pulled out victories at the Nos. 5 and 6 slots, as Joerg Barthel and Joel Reckewey, respectively, won the first set for the Huskers. But both Huskers fell in the second frame and neither was able to collect the point as they both dropped the third set.

 

Nebraska returns to action next week at the Big 12 Championships hosted by the University of Texas. The championship meet runs Friday, April 28 to Sunday, May 1 in Austin.

 

The Huskers, who finished the regular season with a 9-14 record including an 0-7 campaign in league play, will be the No. 8 seed and will face No. 1 seed Baylor (24-0, 6-0 Big 12) in the first round. With the win, Texas Tech improved to 22-2 overall and 4-2 in conference action with a match remaining this weekend at Colorado.

 

 

No. 10 Texas Tech 7, No. 74 Nebraska 0
NU Varsity Courts --- Lincoln, Neb. --- April 22, 2005
Temperature in the mid-50s with wind at 25 mph and gusting to 39 mph

 

Doubles
No. 1    Szumanski/Nijaki (TTU) def. Posch/Reckewey (NU), 8-6
No. 2    Tanik/Prpic (TTU) def. Barthel/Rivera (NU), 8-3
No. 3    Innerebner/Paulsen (TTU) def. Clow/Szatmary (NU), 8-6

Singles (order of finish: 1, 4, 3, 6, 5, 6)
No. 1    No. 14 Radek Nijaki (TTU) def. Jerry Posch (NU), 6-3, 6-3
No. 2    No. 40 Bojan Szumanski (TTU) def. Adrian Szatmary (NU), 7-6 (5), 6-4
No. 3    Jakob Paulsen (TTU) def. James Clow (NU), 7-6 (3), 6-4
No. 4    Esat Tanik (TTU) def. Jose Rivera (NU), 6-4, 7-6 (2)
No. 5    Michael Innerebner (TTU) def. Joerg Barthel (NU), 4-6, 6-3, 10-8
No. 6    Adrian Prpic (TTU) def. Joel Reckewey (NU), 5-7, 6-1, 6-4