Reimers Heads to Ohio for ITA National Indoor Championships

Junior Imke Reimers of the Nebraska women’s tennis team travels to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the ITA National Indoor Championships which run from Nov. 2-5.  Reimers is the only Husker competing in the tournament.

Reimers, who is ranked No. 106, automatically qualified for the tournament by winning six straight matches en route to capturing the ITA Central Regional Championships.  The Husker junior is the first NU player to compete in the tournament since Gitte Ostermann in 2004. 

Reimers, the 2006-07 NU team captain, faces a tough draw, as she starts off the first round with the No. 7 seed Diana Srebrovic of Florida in a field of 32 players.  Srebrovic is the No. 9 player nationally, and started last season ranked No. 1.

Srebrovic is 3-1 this fall, including a 3-1 record against ranked opponents with her only loss coming at the hands of the No. 1 player, Audra Cohen of Miami in the quarterfinals of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships.

The Florida junior owns 111 career combined wins and won last season’s ITA Indoor Championships.  She advanced to the NCAA singles tournament as a sophomore, before falling to then-No. 10, Megan Moulton Levy of the College of William and Mary in a three-set thriller.  She finished last year is the Gators’ No. 2 singles player and helped lead UF to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska Fares Well At the ITA Central Regionals

NU sent four players to Tulsa, Okla., for the ITA Central Regionals to compete in the singles and doubles Main Draw.  Freshman Diana Kuhl recorded her first singles victories as a Husker.  After a disappointing ending to the Minnesota Invitational for Kuhl, due to an injury, she rolled to the quarterfinals of the tournament, defeating the No. 10 seed Kindsay Grimers of Tulsa along the way.  It was not until she faced Imke Reimers that she was eliminated.

Fellow freshman Wiveca Swarting came into the tournament having won her last two matches and she picked up right where she left off.  Swarting won her first two matches in the Regionals, including defeating Missouri’s Nanar Airapetian in a three-set thriller, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.  Swarting’s run was stopped by the No. 6 seed, Santie Delport of Tulsa.

Reimers, however, was looking to bounce back from her early exit as she lost in the first round at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships.  She entered the singles tournament as the No. 3 seed and started off on a high note, blanking Arkansas-Little Rock’s Patricia Cortes, 6-0, 6-0.  The 6-0, 6-0 win marks the fifth time Reimers has not surrendered a single game in a match.

Reimers then cruised to three more wins, including defeating Kuhl, 6-1, 6-1, before  Reimers faced the No. 1 seed, Ela Kaluder of Arkansas.  The two had faced each other once before, in the NU-UA dual match on Feb. 13, 2006, when Reimers upset then-No. 38 Kaluder, 7-2 (2), 6-1.  The junior from Germany took the first set, 6-4, and after a close second set edged out Kaluder, 7-6 (1).

Reimers went on to take the singles Main Draw, defeating another Razorback Maryori Franco, 6-1, 6-2, to automatically qualify for the ITA National Indoor Championships.

The Big Red also saw much success in the doubles Main Draw.  Kuhl and Swarting, who fell in three straight matches at the Minnesota Invitational, shot out of the gates in Oklahoma, taking three straight matches, to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Kuhl and Swarting upset the No. 3 seed of OklahomaState’s Natalie Shatkoyskaya and Yawna Allen, 8-5, but could not keep the three-match winning streak alive, falling in the quarterfinals.

Reimers and Ring, who entered the tournament on a three-match winning streak by taking the Minnesota Invitational’s North Doubles Flight consolation championship, were the No. 2 seed.  After receiving a bye, Reimers and Ring dominated Chelsea Orr and Rachael Cox, 8-1, and posted a pair of 8-6 victories to advance to the semifinals of the tournament where the Husker duo fell to Nanar Airapetian and Maryori Franco, 8-3.

Husker History at ITA Indoor Championships

Since 2000, NU has had two individual appearances in the ITA Indoor Championships, in Gitte Ostermann in 2003 and Ostermann again in 2004.  In 2003, the Luneburg, Germany, native took the first match, upsetting then-No. 22 Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion, but fell in the Round of 16 to No. 3 seed Cristell Grier of Northwestern, 6-1, 6-1. 

In Ostermann’s senior year, she posted a 2-1 record at the tournament advancing to the quarterfinals of the tournament.  In the first round, Ostermann made quick work of  Suzanna Linghman of Harvard, 7-5, 7-5, and then upset then-No. 34 Michelle DiCosta of Michigan.  Ostermann was able to break DiCosta’s serve in both the first and second set to give Ostermann the, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Reimers Falls in First Round of Riviera All-American Championships

Imke Reimers traveled to Los Angeles and was the only Husker to compete in the Riviera All-American Championships, which began on Sept. 30.  Reimers, who owned a 4-2 career record at the Riviera, was the No. 5 seed going into the prequalifying tournament after coming off of four straight victories in winning the Maroon Singles Flight at the Minnesota Invitational. 

The junior from Germany had never advanced to the qualifying tournament and hoped she could break through this season and win the three matches necessary to advance.

In the first round of the prequalifying tournament, Reimers shot out of the gates quickly, taking the first set from San Diego’s Monica Wiesener, 6-3.  Wiesener, however, would not go down easily, as she bounced back to dominate the second set, 6-1. 

The two exchanged points in a tight third set, as they were tied 5-5 but Wiesener outlasted Reimers, pulling off upset, winning the match-deciding set, 7-5.  With the loss Reimers was eliminated from the tournament.  The Huskers’ loss marked her shortest run at the Riviera in her career.

“Reimers had her chances and fought back well after the second set,” assistant coach Hayden Perez said.  “She showed her character but in the end, Weisener was too strong for us.”                      

          
Imke Reimers Looks to Build Off Breakout Sophomore Season

Jacobson dubbed junior Imke Reimers, Nebraska’s only returning player, one of the most talented true freshman he has ever recruited, and she has lived up to the billing as one of NU’s top players.  As a freshman in 2004-05, she played primarily at the No. 2 slot in the lineup, posting 16 singles wins and 17 doubles wins with Milena Schulz-Gartner, which ranks fifth on NU’s single season doubles win chart.

She got off to a shaky start in the fall of her sophomore season last year before she went on a four-match winning streak to end the fall season, taking the ITA Central Regional Consolation Championship. She began the spring at No. 3, but after surrendering only one game in three matches, she moved up to No. 2 where she flourished throughout the season.  On Feb. 11, her first match at No. 2, Reimers upset then-No. 38 Ela Kaluder of Arkansas in straight sets to mark Reimers’ first career victory over a ranked opponent.  The win propelled Reimers into the national rankings for the first time in her career, earning a No. 100 ranking.

Reimers continued to cruise, taking three matches in three days, including defeating then-No. 120 Katy Williams of Long BeachState.  The wins moved Reimers up to No. 88, which proved to be her highest ranking of the season.  She finished the season strongly by taking seven of her last eight completed matches, including a win over Elizabeth Exon of Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.  Reimers’ 25 wins tied Gitte Ostermann for fifth all-time on NU’s singles season win chart.

Huskers Building Off Historic 2005-06 Season

The Huskers are coming off of back-to-back seasons with at least 17 wins and an at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament.  In 2006, the Huskers finished with a No. 43 national ranking and eight wins over ranked teams, the most in school history.  The senior class led NU to a 17-10 record and an all-time best 21 conference victories over a four-year stretch.  Kim Hartmann was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year.  She was the third Husker to earn the award as the conference’s top freshman in the last 12 years. 

The Big Red was also recognized for its academic success, including garnering the Herman Award, which is awarded to the NU men’s and women’s team that achieves the highest team grade-point average for the academic year.  The women’s tennis team boasted an athletic department high 3.607 GPA on a 4.0 scale.