Nebraska Opens Season with Pair of Weekend Matches

The <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska women’s tennis team is set to begin the 2005-06 season by hosting the Colorado State Rams on Friday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m. and the Illinois-Chicago Flames on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. 
Coming off the most successful season in school history, which included a first-ever berth to the NCAA Championships, the Huskers start the season with a No. 38 national ranking, their highest-ever ranking to begin the season.

NU returns six of eight letterwinners from last year’s historic squad, including seniors Pamela Castillejos, Ewelina Skaza, Milena Schulz-Gartner and Jennifer Cremieux.  With Nebraska’s experience, Head Coach Scott Jacobson has set high goals for this season’s squad.
“It is the goal of this team to go one step further than last year’s first-ever NCAA appearance and make it to the sweet 16,” Jacobson said.  “We believe that if we remain healthy, this is a realistic possibility.”

Castillejos, a first-time team captain, returns as the Huskers’s most productive player.  In 2005, the senior from Mexico set the school’s best single-season winning percentage, .880, as she posted a 22-3 record.   She played mostly from he Nos. 4 and 5 slots but will be expected to compete near the top of the talented lineup in 2006.

Skaza recorded over 40 combined wins during her first year as a Husker.  In the fall of 2005, she showed signs of consistency as she posted a 3-1 singles record at the Lloyd Stokstad Invitational at Drake, including a 1-1 mark against conference foes.  In doubles play, look for Skaza and sophomore Imke Reimers to compete at the top of the lineup.  The talented tandem posted 17-wins, which ranks fifth on NU’s season doubles win chart.  In the fall, the duo advanced to the third round of the Main Draw of the ITA Regionals by defeating two conference foes.  Skaza and Reimers start the season ranked No. 7 in the ITA Central Region.

Schulz-Gartner is a third-year player who has competed near the top of the Husker lineup throughout her career in Lincoln.  As a sophomore, she posted a 20-win season, and as a junior she went 7-4 at the No. 3 spot, where three of her four losses were three-set thrillers.

Cremieux returns to the court after a not playing during her junior year.  In her first competition since her sophomore year, the senior from Canada rolled through the singles flight at the Lloyd Stokstad invitational, posting four-straight victories and winning the singles tournament.  In doubles, she teamed with sophomore Ellinor Zugner to outscore opponents 24-1 in three straight victories at the Lloyd Stokstad.  The duo finished third in doubles, posting a 3-1 tournament record. 

After successful freshman campaigns, sophomores Zugner and Reimers showed signs in the fall of picking up right where they left off.

Reimers, who recorded 13 wins mostly at the No. 2 spot as a rookie, demonstrated her potential during the ITA All-American Championships, where she advanced to the field of 16 in the prequalifying tournament by defeating the No. 37 seed, Ana Olivos Vevilia of Oregon and the then-No. 111 ranked player, Sylvia Kosakowski.  The fiery Reimers then showed her resiliency at the ITA Regionals.  After dropping her first match of the Main Draw, she bounced back to take four consecutive victories and capture the Consolation Bracket Championship.  After posting a 6-2 fall singles record, Reimers was ranked No. 21 in the Central Regional rankings, and No. 7 in the regional doubles rankings with Skaza.   <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Zugner enters her sophomore season having won three out of four in singles play.  At the Lloyd Stokstad Invitational, Zugner defeated IowaState’s Kara Hickey en route to advancing to the finals of the singles flight, where she fell to teammate Cremieux.  In doubles play, Zugner posted a five-win fall season.  Cremieux and Zugner teamed to record a 3-1 record and earned third place at the Lloyd Stoksatd Invitaitonal, while at the ITA Regionals, Castillejos and Zugner advanced to the third round of the Main Draw, defeating IowaState’s Hickey and Beth Chermel.

Nebraska rounds out the 2006 roster with two talented freshmen.  Kim Hartmann, a Fulda Germany native, begins the season ranked No. 36 nationally which is the highest national ranking for a freshman in school history.  She is also ranked No. 9 in the singles Central Regional rankings.  In her first action as a Husker, Hartmann won her first five matches, advancing to the third round of the qualifying tournament at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships.  In the process, she defeated three ranked opponents, then-No. 28 Anca Anastasiu of USC, then-No. 78 Melissa Anderson of Harvard and then-No. 100 Ilona Somers of Ole Miss.  Anastasiu is the highest-ranked player a Husker has beaten since Gitte Ostermann defeated then-No. 22 Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion in 2003.  At the ITA Regionals, Hartmann advanced to the third round of the Main Draw.

Vanessa Heute came to Nebraska after ranking as high as No. 78 in Germany’s national rankings.  Heute saw her first action at the ITA Regionals where she rolled through the Qualifying tournament with two victories, including defeating KU’s Brittany Brown, to advance to the Main Draw of the Tournament.  In the Main Draw, Heute advanced to the third round, before falling to the No. 9 seed Anastasia Surkova of BYU.  Heute finished the fall season with a 4-1 record and was ranked No. 28 in the singles Central Regional rankings.

 

Huskers Tackles Non-Conference Foes Early in the Season

Nebraska begins the season playing seven out of its first nine matches against non-conference opponents.  The Huskers own a 63-match non-conference home winning streak and will put it on the line again in 2006.  Last season, NU defeated nine non-conference teams, including then-No. 44 Iowa and then- No. 68 Washington State, to extend its streak.  The win over the Hawkeyes marked Nebraska’s first home non-conference victory over a top-75 team since defeating No. 71 Eastern Michigan in 2003.

 

A Look at the ColoradoState Rams

Colorado State is coming off of a 15-9 season in Head Coach Jon Messic’s 19th year in Fort Collins, Colo.  Junior Emily Kirchem, ranked No. 18 in the Central Regional rankings, is coming off of a 20-win season and ranks No. 24 in the region.  During the fall season, Kirchem was ranked No. 120 nationally.  She is likely to play at the Rams’s No. 1 singles position to start the season.  Sophomore Anne Andersen is Kirchem’s doubles partner and the duo is ranked No. 13 in the region.  Andersen, who posted a 17-win season last year, is ranked No. 30 in the singles regional rankings.

 

Husker-Ram History

Nebraska and ColoradoState met last year marking the eighth-meeting in the series history.  Nebraska leads the series with ColoradoState, 8-0.

The Huskers jumped out early to capture the doubles point by taking three-straight matches.  Schulz-Gartner and Castillejos posted their first victory of the season, rolling over Jessica Jones and Carla Pallares, 8-1.  On the singles court, Gitte Ostermann, then-No. 19 nationally, dominated Dasha Zhurin at the No. 1 singles spot, 6-0, 6-1.  NU captured its second win of the 2005 season by defeating CSU 6-1.

  

A Look at the Illinois-Chicago Flames

Illinois-Chicago finished the 2005 season with a 13-11 record, including posting a seven-match winning streak.  The season win total gave Head Coach Shannon Tully 63-wins for her four-year career.  UIC has won the Horizon Conference title nine-straight seasons and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament seven straight years.  UIC fell to the No. 7 USC Trojans, 4-0, in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Championships

The Flames return three players from their championship squad.

 

Husker-Flame History

Nebraska and Illinois-Chicago have faced each other once in the series history.  In 2004, the Flames came to Lincoln hoping to end NU’s home non-conference winning streak.  NU jumped out early by taking two out of three doubles matches, including a close battle at the No. 3 doubles slot where Jennifer Cremieux and Pamela Castillejos defeated UIC’s Molly Smith and Melanie Humphrey, 8-6.

In singles, Leslie Harvey grabbed a 6-2, 6-2 win over Iris Jaklin at No. 2 singles. Senior Anna Oehme also improved to 3-0, defeating A. Giannoulopoulou at No. 3 singles, 6-2, 7-6.  The Huskers went on to win the match, 5-2.

NU leads the series, 1-0.

 

About the Huskers ...

4Nebraska has produced eight straight winning seasons.

4Nebraska’s 18 wins in 2005 represents its third highest victory total under Jacobson. It also marks the fifth time in Coach Scott Jacobson’s tenure that NU has tallied at least 15 wins.

4The Big Red owns a 63-match home non-conference winning streak.

4Freshman Kim Hartmann received the first national ranking of her career, No. 36.

4Hartmann’s No. 36 ranking is the highest national ranking for a Husker freshman in school history.

4The Huskers have a history of starting the season fast.  NU has won its first four of five matches for eight-straight seasons.

4The Big Red has posted at least a six-match win streak to start the last two seasons.

4Nebraska’s No. 38 team national ranking is the highest ranking to begin the season in school history.

4NU achieved the highest ranking in school history when the Huskers were ranked No. 30 on March 30, 2005.

4Both of NU’s newcomers, Hartmann and Heute, enter the season regionally ranked.

4Hartmann’s regional ranking, No. 9, is believed to be the highest regional ranking for a freshman in school history.

4Castillejos’ 22 wins last season marks her highest single-season win total, eclipsing her previous high of 10 victories in 2004.

4The 17 doubles victories by Reimers and Skaza last season rank fifth on NU’s single season doubles wins.

4Castillejos’s 22-3 season record last year marks the best single season winning percentage in school history at .880.

4With 181 wins in 14 years, Head Coach Scott Jacobson is Nebraska’s winningest and longest serving coach in school history.

4Pamela Castillejos enters her senior season as team captain.

4Sophomore Imke Reimers’s No. 21 regional ranking marks the first time she has entered the season regionally ranked.