Huskers Host Pair of Big 12 Opponents

Match Information
Nebraska (9-5, 2-4) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (6-9, 3-3)

Date - Saturday, April 7, 2007

Time - 11 a.m.
Location - Lincoln, Neb.

    --If below 50 degrees - Nebraska Tennis Center

    --If above 50 degrees - NU Varsity Courts

Rankings - Nebraska (NR), Oklahoma (NR)

Nebraska All-Time vs. Oklahoma - 8-20
Last Meeting - Oklahoma, 4-3 (April 15, 2006)

 

Nebraska (9-5, 2-4) vs. Oklahoma State Cowgirls (12-5, 4-2)

Date - Sunday, April 8, 2007

Time - 10 a.m.
Location - Lincoln, Neb.

    --If below 50 degrees - Nebraska Tennis Center

    --If above 50 degrees - NU Varsity Courts

Rankings - Nebraska (NR), Oklahoma State (#64)

Nebraska All-Time vs. Oklahoma State - 4-24
Last Meeting - Nebraska, 4-3 (April 16, 2006)

 

Huskers Host Pair of Big 12 Opponents

The Nebraska women’s tennis team will play host to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State this weekend, its last home Big 12 opponents of the season. The Huskers will only have one more home match, against Indiana State on April 13, after their matches this weekend.

 

The Huskers are currently 7-2 at home this season, including 1-1 against Big 12 opponents. They defeated Missouri earlier this season and lost to No. 20 Baylor. NU has fared well in its last two home matches, sweeping all singles and doubles matches against both Northern Iowa on March 23 and Saint Louis on March 4. The match with the Sooners comes after playing four of the last five away from home, where they went 2-1 on the road, and tied Texas Tech 3-3, in a match which will be finished on April 25. NU also won its home match in that stretch with the 7-0 win over Northern Iowa.

 

The Huskers were originally scheduled to play their matches this weekend on the outdoor NU Varsity Courts, as opposed to the indoor Nebraska Tennis Center where they have played their first nine home matches in this season. However, with weather forecasted to be in the low to mid 40s this weekend, the matches will most likely be played at the Nebraska Tennis Center again. NU’s general policy on playing outdoors is the temperature being at least 50 and low winds. Winds have also been a problem this week, as the area has seen gusts up to 30 mph. With three home matches remaining, NU has a chance to win double-digit matches at home for the fourth straight season.

 

Scouting the Sooners

Oklahoma heads to Nebraska in the middle of a string of away matches. The match against the Huskers will be OU’s sixth away match in its last seven matches overall. The Sooners have struggled on the road this season, compiling a record of 2-7. The Sooners will look to snap a seven-match road losing streak.

 

Irina Lykina, one of four seniors on the team, has a record of 9-6 overall in singles play this season, including a 5-2 record at the No. 4 position, where she will most likely play against the Huskers.

 

Head coach Mark Johnson has amassed 291 wins in his 19 years with the Sooners. The Sooners have owned the all-time series between the schools, winning 20 of 28 matches, including three of the last four.

 

Scouting the Cowgirls

The 64th ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls will head into Lincoln with a solid 12-5 record, including a 4-2 Big 12 record. The Cowgirls are coached by Julius Lubicz-Majewski, who leads an experienced Cowgirl squad into Lincoln, featuring three seniors and only one freshman on its nine- player team.

 

The Cowgirls have been a different team on the road this season than at home. They have a 8-1 record at home this year, but only a 4-4 record on the road, including losing four of their last five road matches.

 

OSU has several players with impressive singles records this season. Junior Yawna Allen has a 10-5 record at the No. 2 singles position, freshman Nataliya Shatkovskaya has a 12-4 record at the No. 4 singles position and senior Marta Tsivka has an 11-3 record at the No. 5 position.

 

Huskers Top Cyclones

The No. 75 Nebraska women’s tennis team earned its second Big 12 victory of the season on Saturday after it defeated the Iowa State Cyclones, 6-1, in Ames, Iowa. The Huskers moved to 9-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

 

The Huskers started off strong, taking two of the three doubles points, including an 8-0 sweep by NU’s Maria Ring and Wiveca Swarting over Iowa State’s Jill Palen and Caitlin Loprinzi. The win was Ring and Swarting’s fifth in a row in doubles. Imke Reimers and Diana Kuhl also won their doubles match easily, defeating Eve Soriano and Kara Hickey, 8-2.

 

The Huskers fared well in the singles matches, although most of the matches were tightly contested. The one exception was Reimers, who was then ranked No. 50 nationally in singles play. She easily defeated Jill Palen of ISU, 6-1, 6-0, narrowly missing shutting out her opponent for the second time this season. Reimers shut out UC Riverside’s Erynne Oki, 6-0, 6-0, earlier this season. It was Reimers’ sixth straight singles win; her last loss came nearly a month ago, on March 2, in three sets to Baylor’s Zuzana Cerna, who is ranked just ahead of Reimers at No. 49 nationally.

 

Marianne Cicmanec and Ashley Finnegan both came away with narrow three-set victories, as each won a third-set super tiebreaker after splitting the first two with their opponents. Alyssa Palen of Iowa State gave the Cyclones their lone point on the day with a three-set victory over NU’s Ring, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

 

Kuhl won her fourth straight singles match, defeating ISU’s Hickey in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, at the No. 2 position, while Swarting picked up her third consecutive victory with a win over Loprinzi, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

 

The win gave the Huskers their first road Big 12 victory, and second road win this season overall. With the loss, the Cyclones dropped to 5-6, including 0-5 in Big 12 play.

 

Huskers To Finish Match With Texas Tech on April 25

The Nebraska women’s tennis team will finish its match against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on April 25. The teams were unable to finish their doubles matches on March 25 due to inclement weather.

 

The Big 12 office has announced that the teams will play their doubles matches in Kansas City, Mo., site of the Big 12 Championships. The teams will play on April 25 at 4 p.m., and then begin Big 12 Championship play the next day.

 

The match between the Huskers and the Red Raiders is currently at a 3-3 tie. Due to poor weather conditions in Lubbock, Texas, and pre-scheduled flight arrangements by Nebraska, the teams were unable to start the doubles matches after splitting the six singles matches. The match will not be counted toward either team’s record until the doubles matches are finished on April 25..

 

Reimers No. 52 in Latest Rankings

Husker junior Imke Reimers is ranked No. 52 in the nation in the latest ITA singles rankings, down two spots from her previous ranking of No. 50. Reimers has been dominant lately, winning her last six singles matches and 12 of her last 13 sets.

 

Reimers is 12-3 on the season, with her three losses coming to players who are all in the top 55 in the rankings. Reimers has also defeated one ranked opponent this season, Madina Rakhim of Wichita State, who is ranked No. 60.

 

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 150-87 (.633), counting the 9-5 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.

? Imke Reimers has won 30 of her last 36 singles matches, including the spring 2006 and fall 2006 seasons.

? Reimers has won 25 of 33 sets she has played in this season. She has only been outscored by 17 (45-28) in the eight sets she has lost, while she has outscored her opponents by 99 (146-47) in the 25 sets she has won.

? Reimers has won 82 (174 won, 92 lost) more games than her opponents on the season.

? The Huskers have only been pushed to three sets in 18 of their 90 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.