Huskers Fall to No. 14 Baylor

Lincoln - Facing its third consecutive top-30 ranked Big 12 opponent, the No. 65 Nebraska women’s tennis team lost to No. 14 Baylor, 6-1, on Friday at the NebraskaTennisCenter. The Huskers fell to 5-4 on the season, including 1-3 in Big 12 play, while the Bears improved to 6-4 and 1-0 in the Big 12.

 

The Huskers started the day strong and nearly took home the doubles point, but ultimately lost two of the three matches. At the No. 1 position, NU’s Imke Reimers and Diana Kuhl defeated Baylor’s Zuzana Cerna and Zuzana Chmelarova, 8-6, but the Bears won the other two matches and started off the day with a 1-0 lead.

 

The Nos. 1 and 2 singles positions saw especially close matches. Reimers lost to Cerna in the No. 1 position, 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5), in a match that was back and forth the entire way. After losing the first set and falling behind early in the second, Reimers battled back to force a third-set tiebreaker, where she would fall just short.

 

At the No. 2 position, Kuhl earned the Huskers’ lone point on the day by defeating Baylor’s Jessica Zok in another back and forth match, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8).

 

“I was in my game in the first set,” Kuhl said. “I played a little passive in the second set but I fought my way back to get the win. Today’s match gave me a lot of confidence.”

 

Nebraska coach Scott Jacobson echoed Kuhl’s statement of building confidence.

 

“The one thing we talked about today was how this match affects our confidence,” Jacobson said. “If you just continue to believe in yourselves and stay determined and keep competing with passion then this is a good thing for us, and I think that’s how this team will react. Even though we lost I think it’s going to be a confidence builder for our program and for our team.”

 

Jacobson was pleased with the way his team played on the day, especially coming off such a tough stretch last week playing on the road against two highly ranked teams.

 

“We just played three of the best teams in the country in (No. 19) Texas, (No. 23) Texas A&M and (No. 14) Baylor,” Jacobson said. “Today, against the highest-ranked opponent, we played our best. Out of those three matches, today was defnitely a big step in the right direction.”

 

Saturday’s match against Northern Iowa, originally scheduled to be played at 10:30 a.m., has been postponed due to weather. The Huskers will play next on 10:30 a.m. Sunday against Saint Louis at the NebraskaTennisCenter.

 

No. 14 Baylor 6, No. 65 Nebraska 1

Doubles (3-2-1)

No. 1 Imke Reimers/Diana Kuhl (NU) def. Zuzana Cerna/Zuzana Chmelarova (BU), 8-6

No. 2 Jana Bielikova/Lenka Broosova (BU) def. Maria Ring/Wiveca Swarting (NU), 8-6

No. 3 Iva Mihaylova/Jessica Zok (BU) def. Marianne Cicmanec/Ashley Finnegan (NU), 8-0

 

Singles (5-3-4-6-2-1)

No. 1 Zuzana Cerna (BU) def. Imke Reimers (NU), 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5)

No. 2 Diana Kuhl (NU) def. Jessica Zok (BU), 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)

No. 3 (#76) Lenka Broosova (BU) def. Wiveca Swarting (NU), 6-4, 6-0

No. 4 Zuzana Chmelarova (BU) def. Maria Ring (NU), 6-4, 6-1

No. 5 Iva Mihaylova (BU) def. Marianne Cicmanec (NU), 6-2, 6-2

No. 6 Jana Bielikova (BU) def. Ashley Finnegan (NU), 1-6, 6-1, 6-0