Huskers Fall to No. 48 East Tennessee State

Lincoln ? The Nebraska men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 48 East Tennessee State at the Nebraska Tennis Center on Thursday afternoon.

 

Although the match ultimately came down to No. 1 singles, it began with the Huskers (4-5) falling behind early by losing the doubles point.

 

Earning Nebraska’s only victory in doubles was the pair of senior Adrian Szatmary and freshman David Bendheim.  The tandem defeated ETSU's Enrique Olivares and Sebastian Serrano, 8-6, at the No. 2 position. Szatmary and Bendheim improved to 3-2 this spring at the No. 2 spot.

 

In singles action, sophomore Renato Melo set the pace early for the Huskers, winning his first set 6-2 at No. 5 singles against ETSU’s Lisandro Picardo.  Also getting ahead early was Szatmary at No. 1 singles, winning his first set 6-3 against ETSU’s Predrag Burmazovic, and senior No. 3 James Clow won his first set 6-3 against ETSU’s Felix Insaurralde.

 

Melo was even better in the second set, shutting out Picardo 6-0 to sweep the match in straight sets.  With the team score ted at one match each, Clow finished off Insaurralde, 6-3, to complete at sweep at the No. 3 spot to give NU a 2-1 edge.

 

East Tennessee State tied the match, as Nebraska's Bendheim fell 5-7, 6-1 to Enrique Olivares at the No. 2 position. ETSU then went up 3-2 with Sebastian Serrano defeating NU's Hendrik Stahmer, 7-5, 6-4.

 

With NU trailing 3-2, Mark Tate stepped up for the Huskers in the No. 6 spot. After dropping his first set to ETSU's Alex Ahlgren, 4-6, Tate battled back for a 6-4 win in the second set. With the third set tied at 2-2, Tate was penalized a point for a violation to give Ahlgren a 3-2 edge. But Tate responded to storm through the rest of the decisive third set for a 6-3 win.

 

With the team score tied and Szatmary leading after a first-set win at the No. 1 spot, Burmazovic rebounded for a 6-4 win in the second set. Szatmary dropped the first game, but stormed back to take a 4-2 lead in the decisive third set. Burmazovic closed out the match with four straight wins to claim a 6-4 victory and give the Bucs the dual win.

 

“Time after time we put ourselves in the position to win, and yet we’re just not getting it done," Nebraska Coach Kerry McDermott said. “I feel like we took more risky shots when we should have just played simple and smart toward the end of our matches. We kept putting ourselves in the position to win, but then would come up short because of mental errors.”

 

The Huskers (4-5) return to action at the NebraskaTennisCenter on Saturday, March 10, at 5 p.m. against Central Region competitor WichitaState (3-2).  EastTennesseeState will also compete against WichitaState on Friday, March 9, at 1 p.m. and No. 53 Drake on Saturday, March 10, at 10 a.m. at the NebraskaTennisCenter.

 

Doubles  (NU 0, ETSU 1)

Ahlgren/Sandlant (ETSU) def. Navarro/Tate (NU) 9-7

Bendheim/Szatmary (NU) def. Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) 8-6

Picardo/Insaurralde (ETSU) def. Melo/Zsiga (NU) 8-5

 

Singles  (NU 3, ETSU 3)

Predrag Burmazovic (ETSU) def. Adrian Szatmary (NU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. David Bendheim (NU) 7-5, 6-1

James Clow (NU) def. Felix Insaurralde (ETSU) 6-3, 6-3

Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) def. Hendrik Stahmer (NU) 7-5, 6-4

Renato Melo (NU) def. Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) 6-2, 6-0

Mark Tate (NU) def. Alex Ahlgren (ETSU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3

 

Final Score

East Tennessee State 4, Nebraska 3