Huskers Return Home Set to Play Host to Wichita State and No. 43 Colorado

The No. 53 Nebraska women’s tennis team returns home in hopes of returning to its winning ways. Nebraska plays host to Wichita State Saturday, March 11, at 10 a.m., and No. 45 Colorado on Sunday, March 12, at 10 a.m.

With a 6-1 loss to No. 16 Baylor, NU suffered back-to-back regular-season losses for the first time since 2003, when it lost to then-No. 35 Baylor and then-No. 16 Texas A&M.

The Huskers traveled to Waco, Texas, Saturday, March 4, for an important match with the Bears. The match broke a tie between the Bears and Huskers for best overall record in the conference. Baylor marked the fourth ranked team Nebraska had faced this season, but its first ranked opponent on the road.

Baylor shot out of the gates quickly, as it took the doubles point in convincing fashion, winning 8-4 at both the Nos. 1 and 3 spots. The Big Red’s bright spot in doubles play came at the No. 2 spot. Freshman Kim Hartmann and senior Milena Schulz-Gartner looked to extend their three-match winning streak and they did just that against the Bears. After finding themselves down early in the match, Schulz-Gartner and Hartmann rallied to send the match into a tie-breaker. After dropping the first point of the tie-breaker, the Husker duo won four straight points and eventually won the match, 8-7 (7-3).

BU has one of the most talented singles squads not only in the conference, but also the country. Baylor boasts four ranked singles players, including the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.

Hartmann, at the No. 1 spot, was looking to bounce back after her tough loss to No. 39 Meg Racette of Iowa. The freshman from Germany had her hands full as she faced No. 12 Zuzana Zemenova, who is the 2005 NCAA Singles Champion. Zemenova handed Hartmann her third loss of the spring, 6-2, 6-1. In the only matchup featuring two ranked players, No. 16 Zuzana Cerna was looking to avenge her lose to Imke Reimers, who is now ranked No. 100, from last season. Reimers fell to Cerna, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 2 spot. The loss to Cerna marks Reimers’ first loss in five matches.

Senior Pamela Castillejos fought to put the Huskers on the board at the No. 5 spot. The team captain dropped the first set of the match to Iva Mihaylova, 7-5, before bouncing back to take the second set, 6-4, sending the match into a super-breaker. Castillejos started strongly by jumping out to an early 5-1 lead and held off a late Mihaylova rally to win the match, 11-9.

"Pamela Castillejos was the highlight of the day for us," coach Scott Jacobson said. "She just competed very hard."

On Tuesday, the new ITA national rankings were released. These were the first rankings of the year to use a computer program to rank teams. The main change with computer rankings from the week-to-week system used before is that the computer takes into consideration what a team has done during the entire season, not just from last week to this week. Strength of schedule is important. As a result, the rankings of teams Nebraska has played up to this point are now important. Nebraska dropped in the new computer polls, from No. 43 to No. 53. The No. 53 ranking marks NU’s lowest team ranking since Feb. 15, 2005.

A Look at the Shockers
Wichita State comes to Lincoln with a 5-3 overall record this season and the No. 47 singles player, Madina Rakhim. The Shockers have struggled against ranked teams this season, posting an 0-2 record, losing to No. 62 Arkansas and No. 45 Kansas State. Nebraska and WSU have faced one common opponent in Arkansas. Arkansas defeated Wichita State, 6-1, early in the season.

In the Shockers’ match with the Lady Razorbacks, WSU’s No. 1 singles player Rakhim showed she could play with some of the top players in the country as she defeated No. 43 Ela Kaluder in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Rakhim owns a 6-1 spring singles record, with her only loss coming at the hands of Kansas State’s Tamar Kvaratskhelia.

Rakhim has also had much success on the doubles court, mirroring her singles record of 6-1, at the No. 1 spot. Rakhim and senior Wendi Webster posted a six-match winning streak earlier in the spring, including defeating Arkansas’ Maryori Franco and Karina Ledaja, who Nebraska’s senior Ewelina Skaza and sophomore Imke Reimers fell to on Feb. 13.

The Shockers are coached by Chris Young who is in his second year and owns a 18-16 career record.

Husker-Shocker History
Nebraska holds the edge in the all-time series record with a 12-9 advantage. The last time the two met was Feb. 27, 2005, during Nebraska’s historic season in which it received its first NCAA Tournament berth. NU was playing its third match in three days and was looking to extend its home non-conference winning streak to 63 matches.

The Huskers got off to a quick start with a dominating performance with the their solid doubles play. At the No. 2 slot, juniors Ewelina Skaza and Imke Reimers rolled over WSU’s Geneviene Spink and Jackie Richey, 8-0, and Milena Schulz-Gartner and Pamela Castillejos defeated Alejandra Ripoll and Anna Martorell at the No. 3 spot, 8-2. This clinched the doubles point for the Husker and they never looked back.

NU turned in one of its most dominating performances of the season, as it did not surrender a set at any spot. In fact, the Big Red fell in only seven of 72 games. At the No. 5 spot, Castillejos blanked Richie, 6-0, 6-0, while team captain Katie Garcia made quick work of Anna Mortorell, 6-0, 6-0.

The Huskers improved to 11-1 on the year and finished the weekend out with three straight wins.

A Look at the Buffaloes
No. 43 Colorado marks the fourth ranked team Nebraska has faced in its last four matches. The Buffaloes have a 7-4 record, with all four losses coming to ranked teams, including then-No. 3 Texas, then-No. 21 BYU and then-No. 23 Oregon. CU has lost three of its last five matches.

Freshman Monica Milewski is ranked No. 55 nationally and plays either at the Nos. 1 or 2 slots. Milewski is 14-8 on the year, advancing to the quarterfinals of the ITA Central Regional Championships. She has defeated three ranked players in her career, including No. 24 Maja Kovacek during the fall in the New Mexico Invitational. Milewski and Reimers and freshman Kim Hartmann of Nebraska have faced several common opponents, including No. 95 Lauren Jones of BYU and Jessica Simosa of Kansas State. Both Hartmann and Milewski defeated Jones, but Milewski fell to Simosa while Reimers defeated the KSU senior.

Colorado has struggled in doubles play this season. Senior Jessica Vanderdys and Milewski have played every match this season at the No. 1 spot and have lost six of their first nine matches this season. With Colorado’s solid singles play, the doubles point should be important for NU to pick up.

Colorado is led by sixth year coach Nicole Kenneally. Kenneally owns a 72-72 career record.

Husker-Buffalo History
The Nebraska-Colorado series has been one of the more balanced series in the conference. Last season, the two met twice within five days, once in the regular season and once in the Big 12 Tournament. In the regular-season meeting, the Big Red edged Colorado, 4-3, on April 24. Due to the forecast of inclimate weather, the match format was changed with singles being played first. Nebraska picked up wins at the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 spots, including a win by No. 36 Gitte Ostermann over Lynzee Kever, 6-1, 7-6 (6), and Ewelina Skaza taking a three-set thriller, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Huskers then picked up two wins in doubles play to clinch the win.

Five days later, Nebraska met No. 6 seed Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championships. CU swept NU in doubles play, leaving a hill too big for the Huskers to climb. Another Ostermann victory and a win by Katie Garcia at the No. 5 spot proved not to be enough, as the Buffaloes eliminated the Huskers, 4-2.

A Quick Look at the Probable Husker Lineup
4No. 1 singles - Kim Hartmann (14-5): Hartmann started 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. Hartmann has defeated three ranked players, including then-No. 28 Anca Anastasiu of USC. Anastasiu is the highest-ranked player a Husker has beaten since Gitte Ostermann defeated then-No. 22 Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion in 2003. During the spring, Hartmann’s only losses have come at the hands of three top-40 players: No. 20 Aurelija Miseviciute, No. 12 Zuzana Zemenova and No. 39 Meg Racette.
4No. 2 singles - Imke Reimers (14-4): Reimers has posted eight wins in NU’s nine matches of spring play. As a result, Reimers is now ranked No. 100 nationally, her first career national ranking. Reimers has been hot as of late. When then-No. 57 Arkansas came to Lincoln, Reimers upset then-No. 38 Ela Kaluder in straight sets, 7-6 (2), 6-1. Reimers showed composure in her three-set win over Iowa’s Hillary Mintz, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 13-11. On Feb. 3, Reimers posted her third career 6-0, 6-0 victory as she defeated Lauren Wilson of Air Force. 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. The loss to No. 16 Zuzana Cerna of Baylor snapped Reimers’ four-match winning streak.
4No. 3 singles - Vanessa Heute (7-8): Heute saw her first action at the ITA Regionals, where she rolled through the qualifying tournament with two victories, including a defeat of KU’s Brittany Brown, to advance to the Main Draw of the tournament. Heute recorded her first spring victory as a Husker when she battled through an ankle injury and defeated Illinois-Chicago’s Corey Steven, 6-2, 7-5. Heute’s record is deceiving as she has been a victim of three-set matches and two nationally ranked players. She has lost three of four three-set matches this spring.
4No. 4 singles - Milena Schulz-Gartner (5-7): 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. Schulz-Gartner recorded her first win of the spring when she defeated Colorado State’s Jessica Jones, 6-0, 6-3. The senior has been playing well as of late, winning three of her last four matches.
4No. 5 singles - Pamela Castillejos (9-2): The senior enteres her final season as a Husker as team captain and returns as Nebraska’s most productive player. In 2005, she set the school’s best single-season winning percentage (.880) as she posted a 22-3 record. Castillejos has won eight of nine matches this spring with her only loss coming in a three-set thriller against Texas’ Kelly Baritot, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Castillejos posted the team’s only point Saturday with a 5-7, 6-4, 11-9 victory over Iva Mihaylova of Baylor.
4No. 6 singles - Ewelina Skaza (6-5): Skaza recorded more than 40 combined victories in her first year as a Husker. Although she has been plagued by an illness and a slight injury in the spring, she showed signs of consistency last fall, as she posted a 3-1 singles record at the Lloyd Sokstad Invitational at Drake, including a 1-1 mark against conference foes. Skaza has won three of her last five matches.

About the Huskers ...
4Nebraska has produced eight straight winning seasons.
4The Big Red’s 69 match home non-conference winning streak was snapped Feb. 26 by No. 40 Iowa.
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.
4Hartmann’s victory over No. 28 Anca Anastasiu is the highest ranked player NU has beaten since Gitte Ostermann defeated then-No. 22 Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion in 2003.
4The Huskers have a history of starting the season fast. NU has won four of its first five matches for nine straight seasons.
4The Big Red has posted at least a six-match win streak to start two of the last three seasons.
4Nebraska’s preseason No. 38 team national ranking was the highest ranking to begin the season in school history.
4NU’s No. 36 national ranking was the highest NU ranking since April 26, 2005.
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, entered the season regionally ranked and play at the Nos. 1 and 3 singles spots in the Husker lineup.
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’ 22-3 season record last year marked the best single-season winning percentage in school history at .880.
4With 188 wins in 15 years, Head Coach Scott Jacobson is Nebraska’s winningest and longest serving coach in school history.
4Pamela Castillejos entered her senior season as team captain.
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.
4Sophomore Imke Reimers’ No. 21 regional ranking marked the first time she has entered the season regionally ranked.
4Reimers’s 6-0, 6-0 victory on Feb. 3 marked the third time in her career she has blanked an opponent.
4The Feb. 5 match with Drake broke a 13-13 series tie and gave the Big Red the edge in the series.
4With the Huskers’ win over Drake, Jacobson became NU’s first coach to reach 185 wins.
4NU’s win over No. 57 Arkansas marked its third home victory over a non-conference ranked opponent in the last two seasons.
4Sophomore Imke Reimers received her first career national ranking on Feb. 22. Reimers currently is ranked No. 100.
4Nebraska’s 15-match winning streak over Missouri State is the second-longest winning streak over a single team in school history. Only a 20-match winning streak over Creighton is longer.
4Baylor is the second-highest ranked team NU has faced this season, only then-No. 3 Texas was ranked higher.
4Hartmann and Reimers hold a team-high 14-wins.
4Colorado marks the five ranked team NU has faced this season.
4NU has faced three ranked teams in its last four matches.
4Nebraska’s No. 53 ranking is its lowest since Feb. 15, 2005.
4Friday’s match with WSU marks the 22nd all-time meeting. Drake is the only non-conference team to have met Nebraska more times than the Shockers.