Huskers Tame Lions

Newport Beach, Calif. - Playing in its first outdoor match all season, the Nebraska women's tennis team defeated the Loyola Marymount Lions 6-1 on Saturday afternoon in Newport Beach, Calif. The Huskers, who played their first 13 matches of the season indoors, adjusted well to the outdoor conditions and came away with a emphatic victory, improving their record to 13-1 on the season. The 13 wins match their win total from all of last season when the Huskers went 13-9, and is one of the best starts in team history.

“We faced a very tough opponent today,” said NU assistant coach Hayden Perez. “The match was much closer than the final score of 6-1. The girls prepared very well all week for our first outdoor match of the year and their hard work paid off.”

The match started out rocky for Nebraska, as Jana Albers and Imke Reimers lost their first doubles match of the season to Pavla Mesterova and Tamara Tanner at No. 1 doubles, 8-3. The Huskers were in danger of losing the doubles point for only the second time this season, but the Huskers pulled through at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, winning each by a score of 8-4 to take the point and gain a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play.

The Huskers and Lions were evenly matched in singles play. Nebraska found itself behind at one point in all six singles matches, but fought back to win five of the six to account for the 6-1 final score. Ashley Finnegan notched her second singles victory of the year with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Bliss Nixon at No. 6 singles. Imke Reimers and Wiveca Swarting each improved to 13-1 on the year with wins, Reimers at No. 1 and Swarting at No. 3. Freshmen Jana Albers and Stephanie Evans also picked up wins on the afternoon. The Lions' only point came at No. 5 singles, where Shauna Morgan defeated Amber Chandronnait. Morgan took the first set 6-4, and the second set went into a tiebreaker before Chandronnait retired due to injury.

“Our girls continue to play with confidence and passion every time out,” said Perez.

The Huskers have no more non-conference opponents left on their schedule, and finished with a perfect 11-0 record this year against them. They have four more matches left on their current road trip, including trips next week to College Station on March 28 to take on Texas A&M and to Austin to face Texas on March 29.

Results
Nebraska 6, Loyola Marymount 1

Doubles
No. 1 Mesterova/Tanner (LMU) def. Albers/Reimers (NU), 8-3
No. 2 Ring/Swarting (NU) def. Heckel/Razloznik (LMU), 8-4
No. 3 Chandronnait/Evans (NU) def. Morgan/Nixon (LMU), 8-4

Singles
No. 1 Imke Reimers (NU) def. Tamara Tanner (LMU), 6-1, 4-6, (10-3)
No. 2 Wiveca Swarting (NU) def. Tina Razloznik (LMU), 6-2, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 Jana Albers (NU) def. Jasmin Heckel (LMU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 4 Stephanie Evans (NU) def. Audrey Bulkley (LMU), 7-6 (6), 6-4
No. 5 Shauna Morgan (LMU) def. Amber Chandronnait (NU), 6-4, 6-6 (ret.)
No. 6 Ashley Finnegan (NU) def. Bliss Nixon (LMU), 7-5, 6-2