Huskers Top Roadrunners

Lincoln - After losing a pair of close matches to ranked foes last weekend, the Nebraska men's tennis team got back in the win column by defeating the UT-San Antonio Roadrunners 6-1 on Friday night at the Nebraska Tennis Center. The Huskers improved to 3-2 with the victory, while the loss dropped UTSA to 1-4.

The match started off with some tight and competitive doubles matches. Nebraska took the first match at No. 2 doubles, 8-4, but found themselves trailing 7-5 at No. 1 and 7-4 at No. 3. Both NU teams mounted rallies to force a tiebreaker, where each team cruised to victory, 9-8 (0) at No. 1 and 9-8 (3) at No. 3, giving the Huskers a 1-0 lead.

"We did a good job of staying in the matches and playing hard," NU Head Coach Kerry McDermott said. "I think we still need to concentrate on getting off to better starts, but I was proud that our guys did come back and win the doubles point."

The Huskers carried the momentum from coming back in the doubles matches into their singles matches, where they didn't have as much trouble. Freshman Calin Paar started the scoring for Nebraska when he defeated UTSA's Robin Fernandes 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Sophomore David Bendheim followed suit by defeating Max Stratmann at No. 3 singles, 6-4, 6-2, as the Huskers took a 3-0 lead.

Junior Hendrik Stahmer clinched the match for the Huskers with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles over Rodrigo Morgado. Junior Renato Melo won his match at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-2 and sophomore Francois Van Impe won at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-2. The Huskers' lone loss on the night came in a tight three-set marathon at No. 6 singles, as senior Karl Jones dropped his first match of the spring to Daniel Moreiras, 3-6, 6-4, (12-10).

"They're a good team," McDermott said about the Roadrunners. "We just came out and got a lot of first sets. What I liked about it is after we got the first sets, there was no let up, and that's what good teams have to do. Hopefully this will give us some confidence going into tomorrow's match."

Nebraska takes on DePaul on Saturday night at 8 p.m., then finishes the weekend with No. 50 Drake on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Results
Nebraska 6, UT-San Antonio 1

Doubles
No. 1 Paar/Bendheim (NU) def. Fernandes/Morgado (UTSA), 9-8 (0)
No. 2 Stahmer/Van Impe (NU) def. Becker/Stratmann (UTSA), 8-4
No. 3 Jones/Melo (NU) def. Moreira/Moreiras (UTSA), 9-8 (3)

Singles
No. 1 Calin Paar (NU) def. Robin Fernandes (UTSA), 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 Hendrik Stahmer (NU) def. Rodrigo Morgado (UTSA), 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 David Bendheim (NU) def. Max Stratmann (UTSA), 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 Francois Van Impe (NU) def. Adam Becker (UTSA), 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 Renato Melo (NU) def. Andre Moreira (UTSA), 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Daniel Moreiras (UTSA) def. Karl Jones (NU), 3-6, 6-4, (12-10)