Huskers Face Two Ranked Opponents in New Mexico

Traveling to Albuquerque, N.M. this weekend, the Nebraska men’s tennis team will compete against two nationally ranked teams, No. 73 New Mexico Lobos on Friday, Feb. 2, and No. 61 Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 3.

 

Hosting this weekend’s competition is New Mexico and all matches will be played at the Lobo Tennis Club in Albuquerque, N.M.

 

The Lobos began the 2007 spring season at the Boilermaker Invitational, hosted by PurdueUniversity, where they competed against Purdue, Western Michigan and Kentucky.  Although the invitational was not team scored, the Lobos went 2-1 against the competition.  New Mexico began the season unranked, but have since earned a spot at No. 73 in the national polls following a win over then-No. 73 Brigham Young, 4-0, at the ITAMountain Regional Team Playoffs in Boise, Idaho on Jan. 20.  The Lobos, faced 25th-ranked BoiseState in the championship match and lost, 0-5, to fall to 1-1.  In addition to the Lobos’ team ranking, UNM’s No. 1 singles player, Max Jones, boasts a singles national ranking of 73 and a 3-1 overall record.

 

In an opposite fashion from that of New Mexico, Arizona began the 2007 spring season ranked No. 48 nationally, and have since fallen 16 spots to No. 61 after losing to the unranked Saint Mary’s College, 4-1, on Jan. 22.  The Wildcats’ only win of the season came in their season opener against Northern Arizona, when they defeated the Lumberjacks, 6-1.  The Wildcats also boast a nationally ranked No. 1 singles players with Claudio Christen, who is ranked No. 86 in the nation.

Arizona will compete against New Mexico on Sunday, Feb. 4 at noon.

 

Rain CancelsNebraska-FresnoState Match

The then-No. 61 Nebraska men’s tennis match at then-No. 45 Fresno State scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 28, was canceled due to rain. If scheduling permits, the match may be rescheduled later in the season.

 

First Victory of Spring Comes in California

The Huskers earned their first victory of the 2007 spring season on Jan. 27, against Loyola Marymount in Fresno, Calif. 

 

The Huskers took advantage of the California weather when they competed outside for the first time in months and trampled past the Lions, 6-1.

 

The Huskers got off to a good start when they went 2-1 in doubles, earning them the doubles point.  Winning the No. 2 doubles was the team of senior Adrian Szatmary and sophomore Renato Melo.  The Husker duo defeated LMU’s team of Matt Phillips and Jacek Twarowski, 8-4, giving Szatmary an unblemished doubles record of 2-0 so far this spring.

 

Earning the Huskers’ second victory in doubles was the pairing of senior James Clow and freshman Francois Van Impe at No. 3 doubles.  They defeated Nikola Petrov and Renzo Maggi, 8-2.  During the 2006 fall season, Clow and Van Impe teamed up eight times compiling a 3-5 record and now start the spring season with a 1-0 record as a team.

 

Up 1-0 after the doubles competition, the Huskers made a smooth transition into the singles competition, sweeping Loyola Marymount in the top five spots.

 

Competing at the No. 1 spot for the Huskers was No. 78 Szatmary, who defeated LMU’s Nico Terrien in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to earn his first singles victory of the spring season.  In No. 2 singles, it was NU sophomore Hendrik Stahmer that came away with the victory.  Stahmer defeated Nikola Petrov, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, to also gain his first victory of the spring.

The top-five spot sweep continued, as Clow defeated Jacek Twarowski, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, at the No. 3 spot, freshman David Bendheim defeated Reyniere Roxas, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 4, and Melo defeated Sam Tadevosian in two sets, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 5 spot.

 

Huskers Defeated at Region V Indoor Qualifier

In the first match of the Central (V) Region Indoor Qualifier the Huskers fell to Big 12 rival, Oklahoma, 4-0.

The tournament opened on Saturday, Jan. 20, with doubles competition in which the Huskers went 1-2.  The pairing of senior Adrian Szatmary and freshman David Bendheim came away with the only win at the No. 2 spot, as they defeated Oklahoma’s Andrei Daescu and Vaclav Kucera 8-3.

 

With the Sooners ahead 1-0 after the completion of the doubles competition, the Huskers struggled to regain momentum in singles.

 

“I really tried to express to the team the importance of winning their doubles matches,” said head coach Kerry McDermott.  “With a good opponent like Oklahoma it’s very difficult to go into the singles competition already down by a point. It adds unnecessary pressure.”

 

Going into the singles competition Nebraska needed to win three matches in order to post the victory, but were unable to do so.  Since only the first three matches completed count toward the score, the Huskers’ losses at the No. 3, 5, and 6 spots gave the Sooners the points they needed to win.

 

Disappointed after the loss, McDermott said it was frustrating because the final score really did not reflect the competitiveness of the matchup.

 

“It’s disappointing because all that gets recorded is the final score,” McDermott said.  “We were winning at the No. 1, 2, and 4 spots, but since our 3, 5, and 6 spots lost, we were unable to capitalize on those matches.”