Huskers Sweep Sycamores

Johnson City, Tenn. - The Nebraska men's tennis team improved to 6-8 with a 6-0 sweep of the Indiana State Sycamores on Friday morning in Johnson City, Tenn. The struggling Sycamores lost their fourth match in their last five contests and dropped to 4-9 overall this spring.

“It was good to be outside playing again,” said NU Head Coach Kerry McDermott. “I thought the team played really well. We had good focus and good intensity from the start.”

The teams started off with singles play due to weather concerns, with the agreement that if neither team reached four points after singles play, they would decide the match in doubles. The Huskers made sure that the match never reached that point, as it was never in doubt as the Huskers took all six singles matches.

Hendrik Stahmer got the scoring started for the Huskers with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Mpiloenhle Migogo at No. 4 singles. Calin Paar made it 2-0 after defeating Rishi Behl 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. Mark Tate, seeing his first singles action in nearly a month, breezed to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Blake Douglas at No. 6 singles to extend the NU lead to 3-0. Renato Melo clinched the match for the Huskers, giving the team its fourth point with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 5 singles.

Francois Van Impe and David Bendheim each added victories after the match had been decided. Van Impe, playing in his first match at No. 3 singles this season after spending the previous 12 NU matches at Nos. 4 and 5 singles, won 6-4, 7-5 over ISU's Jon Sigurdsson. Bendheim fought back after losing the first set to beat Anton Tsymbalov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to finish the scoring for Nebraska.

“David did really good again,” said McDermott. “He played really hard even after the team outcome had been decided, and showed good fight to come back and win.”

The Huskers will play two more matches in Johnson City on Saturday before heading home. They will face No. 42 East Tennessee State at 10 a.m., then will play South Carolina Upstate at 4 p.m.

Results
Nebraska 6, Indiana State 0

Doubles
Was not played (weather concerns)

Singles
No. 1 David Bendheim (NU) def. Anton Tsymbalov (ISU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 Calin Paar (NU) def. Rishi Behl (ISU), 6-3, 6-0
No. 3 Francois Van Impe (NU) def. Jon Sigurdsson (ISU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 4 Hendrik Stahmer (NU) def. Mpiloenhle Migogo (ISU), 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 Renato Melo (NU) def. Michael Wenham (ISU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 Mark Tate (NU) def. Blake Douglas (ISU), 6-3, 6-1