Huskers Beat Sycamores in Final Home Match

Lincoln - The Nebraska women's tennis team defeated the No. 64 Indiana State Sycamores on Friday, 5-2, in their its home match of the season at the Nebraska Tennis Center. The Huskers improved to 11-6 with the win, while the Sycamores fell to 10-8.

The Huskers started off by taking two of the three doubles matches, and for the fifth time in the last six matches, NU took the doubles point. Imke Reimers and Diana Kuhl won their sixth straight doubles match with an 8-2 win over ISU's Kelly Hamm and Jennifer Migan. Maria Ring and Wiveca Swarting also picked up their seventh win in their last eight matches with an 8-4 victory over Ariane Masschelein and Joanne Schickerling at the No. 2 position.

The No. 1 singles position saw a showdown between two nationally ranked players, ISU's Migan (No. 98) and NU's Reimers (No. 52). Both players came into the day with an eight-match winning streak in singles, with Migan owning an overall singles record of 15-2 and Reimers with a record of 14-3. Migan was strong all the way through, and won the match 6-3, 6-3, snapping Reimers' season-high winning streak.

The Huskers were strong at their other singles positions, and came through to win four of the five matches, including wins at the Nos. 5 and 6 positions. Marianne Cicmanec (No. 5) won in straight sets over ISU's Marie Caujolle, 6-4, 6-4, giving her an eighth singles victory of the year. Ashley Finnegan (No. 6) won in three sets over Fadzai Masiyazi, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, for her 10th singles win.

"I told the team that we've kind of been getting carried by our 1, 2 and 3 positions in singles play, but today we got 5 and 6," head coach Scott Jacobson said. "It was great for Ashley and Marianne to step up and get it done for the team today."

Freshman Wiveca Swarting defeated Galparoli, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 3 position and fellow freshman Diana Kuhl picked up her seventh straight singles victory with a 7-5, 5-5 (ret.) win over ISU's Masschelein at the No. 2 position to round out the Husker victories on the day.

"I was real happy with our performance today," Jacobson said. "It was a total team effort."

The Sycamores are the first ranked opponent the Huskers have defeated this season.

"We've always felt that we're a team that deserves to be nationally ranked," Jacobson said. The Huskers are currently unranked after spending most of the season in the top 75.

"Today, we beat a nationally ranked team, and we'd like to end the year with a national ranking. That's been one of our goals this season, and it helps to beat a team that's already there."

The Huskers have two regular-season matches left this season, both on the road against Big 12 opponents. They play Kansas State this Sunday in Manhattan and then travel to Boulder to take on Colorado on April 22.

Nebraska 5, No. 64 Indiana State 2 Doubles No. 1 Reimers/Kuhl (NU) def. Hamm/Migan (ISU), 8-2 No. 2 Ring/Swarting (NU) def. Masschelein/Schickerling (ISU), 8-4 No. 3 Galparoli/Masiyazi (ISU) def. Cicmanec/Finnegan (NU), 8-5

Singles No. 1 (#98) Jennifer Migan (ISU) def. (#52) Imke Reimers (NU), 6-3, 6-3 No. 2 Diana Kuhl (NU) def. Ariane Masschelein (ISU), 7-5, 5-5 (ret.) No. 3 Wiveca Swarting (NU) def. Sarah Galparoli (ISU), 6-4, 6-3 No. 4 Joaanne Schickerling (ISU) def. Maria Ring (NU), 6-2, 6-4 No. 5 Marianne Cicmanec (NU) def. Marie Caujolle (ISU), 6-4, 6-4 No. 6 Ashley Finnegan (NU) def. Fadzai Masiyazi (ISU), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2