Huskers Head West to Play UC Riverside

Match Information
Nebraska (6-5) vs. UC Riverside Highlanders (7-5)

Date - Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Time - 2 p.m.
Location - Riverside, Calif.

Nebraska All-Time vs. UC Riverside - First Meeting

Huskers Head West to Play UC Riverside

The Nebraska women’s tennis team travels to California this week to take on the UC Riverside Highlanders in NU’s longest trip of the season, in terms of distance travelled.

 

The match will mark the first meeting in school history between the two programs. The Huskers have played several California teams over the years, including UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, but have never taken on Riverside.

 

The meeting with the Highlanders will be one of two straight non-conference opponents for the Huskers, who will take on Northern Iowa on March 23 in Lincoln. Nebraska will then play six of its last seven matches against Big 12 opponents.

 

The Huskers will be looking for their first road win of the season after losing to Kansas last weekend. NU is currently 0-3 on the road this season.

 

Scouting the Highlanders

Head coach Mark Henry boasts a young Highlander squad, consisting of five freshmen and three sophomores among its 11 members, led by sophomore Erynne Oki, who has played at the No. 1 singles position in every match for them this season. Three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior round out the remaining five singles spots that the Highlanders are projected to have compete in their match against the Huskers. The young team has compiled a 7-5 record so far this season.

 

Wednesday’s match with the Huskers will be their sixth of a seven-match homestand, where they have gone 3-2 so far.

UC Riverside’s No. 1 doubles combination of Oki and freshman Donna McCullough have gone 10-2 from that spot this season, including winning five straight.

 

Northern Iowa Match Rescheduled for March 23

The Nebraska women’s tennis team has announced that it has rescheduled a match with Northern Iowa for 9 a.m. on Friday, March 23, at the Nebraska Tennis Center. The match was originally scheduled for March 3, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

 

The men’s tennis team also has a home match at the Nebraska Tennis Center on March 23, at 2 p.m., forcing the women’s team to play at an earlier time than usual. The Panthers are currently 8-1 on the season.

 

The match will cut what would have been a four-match road trip for the Huskers in half. NU played at Kansas and plays at UC Riverside this week before returning to Lincoln, and plays at Texas Tech and at Iowa State after the match with the Panthers before returning home again.

 

Reimers No. 57 in Latest Rankings

Husker junior Imke Reimers is ranked No. 57 in the nation in singles play in the latest ITA polls. Reimers is 8-3 on the season, with all three of her losses coming to other nationally-ranked opponents.

 

Reimers started the season ranked No. 30 and won her first six matches before dropping three straight to ranked Big 12 opponents. Reimers dropped out of the rankings in the last poll but regains her spot within the top 100 players in the nation in the latest poll.

 

Strange Coincidences

The Huskers may only have to look at how two players did in their singles matches to determine the ultimate outcome of the match. Wiveca Swarting and Ashley Finnegan have identical 6-5 singles records on the season, which equals the team’s overall record, and their individual wins and losses have mirrored the team’s wins and losses. Each match that the Huskers have won, Swarting and Finnegan both won their singles matches, and each match the Huskers have lost, Swarting and Finnegan both lost their singles matches.

 

Huskers Fall on Road to Kansas

The Nebraska women’s tennis team fell on the road to the Kansas Jayhawks on March 10, 5-2. The Huskers’ overall record dropped to 6-5 on the year, including 1-4 in the Big 12. Kansas improved to 4-8 and 2-2 in Big 12 play.

 

The match started out with the Husker duo of Maria Ring and Wiveca Swarting defeating Lauren Hommell and Yuliana Svistun in doubles, 8-4. The other two doubles matches saw both teams going back and forth the whole way. In the end, the Huskers lost both matches by identical 9-7 scores, giving Kansas the doubles point.

 

The Huskers tried getting back on track in the singles portion of the match. Junior Imke Reimers, ranked No. 57 in the latest ITA poll, made quick work of Kansas’ Elizaveta Avdeeva, 6-1, 6-2, at the No. 1 slot. Sophomore Maria Ring then took the first set against KU’s Hommell, 6-4. Hommell was forced to retire after the first set due to injury, giving Ring and the Huskers another point.

 

Unfortunately for NU, those were the only points they would score for the match. Freshman Diana Kuhl took Kunigunda Dorn of Kansas to three sets, but couldn’t close it out for the win, with Dorn taking the point, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. It was Kuhl’s third three-set loss on the season, and just one of several points that could have gone Nebraska’s way in the match.

 

Eight Huskers Named to Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll

The Nebraska women’s tennis team placed eight current and former team members on the 2006 Big 12 Commissioner’s Fall Honor Roll. Honor Roll status is awarded to student-athletes who achieve at least a 3.0 grade-point average during the semester. Junior Imke Reimers earned a 4.0 GPA, making her one of 33 Husker student-athletes to post a perfect GPA. Reimers has been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in all five of her semesters at Nebraska. She was also a first-team academic All-Big 12 selection in 2006.

 

Pamela Castillejos, who earned her degree in December and finished her tennis career at Nebraska in 2006, was named to her third Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, while Ewelina Skaza, also a senior from last year’s team, was named to her fourth. Skaza, along with Reimers, was a first-team academic All-Big 12 selection in 2006.

 

Five other current team members were honored along with Reimers. Freshmen Diana Kuhl and Wiveca Swarting, sophomores Ashley Finnegan and Maria Ring and junior Maria Popova were also named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Nebraska had a total of 270 honorees across 23 sports, including 33 who had a 4.0 GPA.

 

Jacobson Earns 200th Career Victory

Nebraska head coach Scott Jacobson earned his 200th career victory on Friday, Jan. 26, as his team beat Wyoming 6-1.

 

"It’s just like any other win," Jacobson said. "I’m proud of our team and the way they persevered out there and came through in some pressure situations." Jacobson also celebrated his birthday on the same day.

 

After going 37-59 (.385) in his first five seasons as head coach, starting with the 1991-92 season, Jacobson has since gone 147-87 (.628), counting the 6-5 start to this season. He has led the Huskers to 10 straight winning seasons dating back to 1996-97. Before becoming head coach of the women’s team, Jacobson was an assistant on the NU men’s team from 1979 to 1989. Jacobson is the winningest and longest-serving women’s tennis coach in Husker history.

 

Net Notes

? After beating Colorado State, the Huskers improved to 4-1, marking the 10th straight season they have won at least four of their first five matches.

? Four of the Huskers’ five losses have come to teams that are currently ranked in the top 50. Although Wichita State was not ranked at the time they defeated the Huskers, they are currently 10-0 and have a No. 20 ranking in the latest ITA poll.

? Imke Reimers has won 26 of her last 32 singles matches, including the spring 2006 and fall 2006 seasons.

? Reimers has won 17 of 24 sets she has played in this season. She has only been outscored 39-24 in the seven sets she has lost, while she has outscored her opponents 97-34 in the 17 sets she has won.

? Reimers has won 48 (121 won, 73 lost) more games than her opponents on the season.

? The Huskers have only been pushed to three sets in 11 of their 66 singles matches this season.

? The 2006-07 Husker team lists no seniors, a first for the program since the 1998-99 season. ? Junior Imke Reimers is the squad’s only returning letterwinner.