Huskers Bounced by Texas

Lincoln - The Nebraska men's tennis team lost to the No. 6 Texas Longhorns 7-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Nebraska Tennis Center, in a match that was much closer than the final score indicated. The loss drops the Huskers to 9-11 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12 this year, while Texas improves to 17-3 and 3-0 in the Big 12.

Saturday's match was originally going to be played outdoors, but strong winds forced the teams to move to the NTC's indoor facility. The Huskers fell behind 1-0 after losing all three doubles matches, but two of those matches could have just as easily gone NU's way. Nebraska had two match points at No. 1 doubles before losing 9-7, and the Huskers lost in another close match at No. 3 doubles 8-6.

“I was especially pleased with the way we played doubles today,” said NU Head Coach Kerry McDermott. “We had some new combinations and we had two match points at No. 1. I think that carried into singles; our guys felt like they could play with their guys.”

At No. 2 singles, Calin Paar, riding a six-match singles winning streak, went up on the nation's 22nd-ranked player, UT's Kellen Damico, winning the first set 6-4. Paar was up 4-1 in the second set with the serve, but Damico battled back to take the set in a tiebreaker. Damico ultimately took the match by winning a third-set super-tiebreaker.

The Huskers lost two other third-set super-tiebreakers, at No. 4 and No. 5 singles. Both Francois Van Impe at No. 4 and Renato Melo at No. 5 won the first set, but couldn't put their opponent away in the second set or in the third-set tiebreaker.

“We lost 7-0 but I thought we competed well,” McDermott said. “I think our guys are starting to feel comfortable playing with the top teams in the country. I'm not saying we're going to beat all of them, but we're starting to feel like we're good at each and every position. It was a good match today, and I think it gives our guys confidence as far as just knowing that they can play at a higher level than they give themselves credit for.”

The Huskers continue Big 12 play next week with a home match against Texas A&M on Friday, April 11, before heading south to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech on Sunday, April 13. The match against the Aggies next Friday is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at the Nebraska Tennis Center.

Results
Texas 7, Nebraska 0

Doubles
No. 1 Corrie/Damico (UT) def. Melo/Schneider (NU), 9-7
No. 2 Barriga/Verela (UT) def. Paar/Van Impe (NU), 8-4
No. 3 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Bendheim/Stahmer (NU), 8-6

Singles
No. 1 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. David Bendheim (NU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 Kellen Damico (UT) def. Calin Paar (NU), 4-6, 7-6 (6), (10-5)
No. 3 Ed Corrie (UT) def. Hendrik Stahmer (NU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Francois Van Impe (NU), 4-6, 6-4, (10-4)
No. 5 Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Renato Melo (NU), 3-6, 6-2, (10-4)
No. 6 Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Mark Tate (NU), 6-2, 6-1