No. 75 Nebraska Falls Short Against No. 31 Texas Tech

Lincoln - The Nebraska men's tennis team suffered a close 4-3 loss in Sunday's match against No. 31 Texas Tech.

 

After losing the doubles point early on, the Huskers once again went in to the singles competition trailing their opponent by one.

When senior James Clow was defeated at the No. 3 spot by Texas Tech's Sinisa Markovic in straight sets, the Huskers were forced to attempt to fight back from a two point deficit.

The Huskers regained some ground when sophomore Renato Melo earned a victory, defeating Texas Tech's Michael Breler, 6-0, 6-2, at the No. 5 position.

 

A close match developed in the second set of the No. 2 singles match between Nebraska freshman David Bendheim and Texas Tech's Dimitrio Martinez.  After falling to Martinez in the first set 4-6, Bendheim battled through the second to bring the score to 6-6, forcing the set to a tiebreaker in which Bendheim lost 6-8.

 

With the Huskers down 3-1, they needed to win the four remaining matches on the court in order to clinch the victory.  Battling back to victory from a loss in the first set was sophomore Hendrik Stahmer at the No. 4 spot who defeated Texas Tech's Christian Rojmar, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

 

Another come-from-behind Husker victory came at the No. 6 spot when freshman Marton Zsiga defeated Texas Tech's Milos Kustudija, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.  The win evened the team score at 3-3, allowing Nebraska to remain in a position to claim victory over its Big 12 rival.

"I'm very proud of how Marton played today," Nebraska Coach Kerry McDermott said.  "A month ago when Marton was put in a similar situation he was unable to capitalize, but his win today shows that his hard work is paying off.”

 

With the score tied, all attention shifted to the No. 1 singles position where senior Adrian Szatmary was paired against Texas Tech's No. 33-ranked Bojan Szumanski.

Szatmary led after a first set victory, but Szumanski rebounded for a 7-6(11-9) tiebreaker win in the second set to even the score.  During the tiebreaker in the second set, Szatmary was unable to capitalize on three match points.  In the third set, Szumanski stormed past Szatmary defeating him 6-0 to win the match and clinch the team victory for the Red Raiders.

 

"Not getting a win from any of our top three singles spots is really disappointing," McDermott said.  "Our four through six guys battled hard to put the team in a position to win and it's frustrating that we couldn't come away with a victory."

 

The Huskers moved to 6-8 on the season as they continue to strive toward their first conference victory since 2003.  The Huskers return to Big 12 action at home on Friday, March 30, at 2 p.m. against No. 52 Oklahoma and then travel to Stillwater, Okla. to take on No. 16 Oklahoma State on Sunday, April 1, at 1 p.m.

 

 

Doubles  (NU 0, TTU 1)

No. 34 Rojmar/Szumanski (TTU) def. Bendheim/Tate (NU) 8-0

Clow/Szatmary (NU) def. Breler/Markovic (TTU) 8-5

DiBlasi/Martinez (TTU) def. Melo/ Zsiga (NU) 8-6

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3

 

Singles  (NU 3, TTU 3)

No. 33 Bojan Szumanski (TTU) def. Adrian Szatmary (NU) 4-6, 7-6(11-9), 6-0

Dimitrio Martinez (TTU) def. David Bendheim (NU) 6-4, 7-6(8-6)

Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. James Clow (NU) 6-3, 6-3

Hendrik Stahmer (NU) def. Christian Rojmar (TTU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

Renato Melo (NU) def. Michael Breler (TTU) 6-0, 6-3

Marton Zsiga (NU) def. Milos Kustudija (TTU) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5

Order of Finish: 3, 5, 2, 4, 6, 1

 

Final Score

Texas Tech 4, Nebraska 3