Huskers Face Drake In Mid-Week Showdown

Huskers Face Drake In Mid-Week Showdown

   The No. 62 Nebraska men’s tennis team continues its 10-match roadtrip on Wednesday, Feb. 18,  as it takes on the No. 54 Drake Bulldogs starting at 6 p.m. at the DrakeTennisCenter in Des Moines, Iowa.  The Huskers enter the match riding a two-match winning streak after defeating Marquette and Texas-San Antonio both by the score of 7-0 last weekend. Last year against Drake, NU dropped a hard fought match to the Bulldogs, 4-3, in Lincoln. The Huskers will try to do what very few teams have been able to do over the past five years, win at the Drake  TennisCenter. Before losing to No. 48 Denver at home earlier this season, the Bulldogs held a 47-match home winning streak that stretched back almost five years.

Huskers Drop Opening Match To Corpus Christi

     Opening play last weekend, the Nebraska men’s tennis team took on No. 61 Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Feb. 13 at the UTSATennisCenter in San Antonio, Texas.   The Huskers battled their way to a 3-3 tie after all singles matches were played, but were unable to collect the doubles point and lost by the score of 4-3.

     Calin Paar (NU) led the way for the Huskers in singles as he handled Laurent Montoisy (TAMCC) 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 2 spot.  Christopher Aumueller (NU) continued his impressive start to the season by defeating Dmitry Novikov (TAMCC) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, at the No. 3 spot. Hendrik Stahmer was the only other Husker able to collect a singles victory at the No. 6 spot.

     Stahmer and Francois Van Impe were the only Husker duo to collect a victory in doubles play by defeating David Pace and James Langford (TAMCC) 8-6.

Huskers Beat Marquette 7-0

    In its second match of the weekend, the No. 63 Nebraska men’s tennis team was dominant from start to finish in a 7-0 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles.      

      In singles, David Bendheim (NU), Christopher Aumueller (NU), Hendrik Stahmer (NU) and Benedikt Lindheim (NU) all defeated their opponents in straight sets.  Calin Paar (NU) and Francios Van Impe (NU) were the only two Huskers to play in a third and deciding set.  At the No. 2 spot, Paar defeated Dusan Medan (MU) 6-7, 7-5, 10-5, while Van Impe took down Stephen Shao (MU) 5-7, 6-4, 12-10 at the No. 4 spot.  No. 73 Bendheim beat Trent Hagan (MU) 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 1 spot.

     In doubles, the Huskers’ top duo of Bendheim and Paar recorded their first victory of the season in an 8-4 decision over Hagan and Shao (MU) at the No. 1 spot.  At the No. 2 spot, Aumueller and Lindheim defeated Boulieris and Medan (MU) 8-6.  The only match the Huskers dropped was at the No. 3 doubles spot, where Mark Rutherford and Jonathan Schwerin (MU) defeated Stahmer and Van Impe 8-3.

Huskers Over-Match Roadrunners

      For the second match in a row, the Nebraska men’s tennis team won by the score of 7-0, this time over the Roadrunners from Texas-San Antonio.  The win improved the Huskers’ record to 2-1 over the weekend, and 5-2 overall on the season. 

     In the first doubles match, David Bendheim and Calin Paar (NU) cruised to an easy victory over Pedro Zanotelli and Andre Moreira (UTSA) 8-2 at the No. 1 spot.  Christopher Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim (NU) were equally as impressive defeating Rodrigo Morgado and Daniel Moreiras (UTSA) 8-3. In the final doubles match, Hendrik Stahmer and Francois Van Impe (NU) took down Max Stratmann and Jorge Delgado (UTSA) 8-2 at the No. 3.

    In singles, Stahmer (NU) got NU off on the right track by beating Stratmann (UTSA) 6-0, 6-1, at the No. 4 spot.  Lindheim (NU) and Van Impe (NU) were both able to win their matches in straight sets at the No. 5 and 6 spots.  At the No. 2 spot, Paar (NU) defeated Pedro Zanotelli (UTSA) 6-2, 7-6, and Aumueller beat Andre Moreira (UTSA) 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 3 spot.  Both Aumueller and Paar collected a 3-0 record in singles over the weekend. 

Scouting the Drake Bulldogs

     Coming out of the Missouri Valley Conference, the Drake Bulldogs enter Wednesday’s match riding a two-match winning streak after beating Saint Louis and Western Illinois and holding an overall record of 2-3.  The Bulldogs’ top player is Maor Zirkin.  Zirkin has a 4-1 singles record on the year and has accumulated over 200 victories in his career.  The Bulldogs had a school-record 47 match home winning steak that stretched back  almost than five years ago snapped earlier this year when they lost to No. 48 Denver at the DrakeTennisCenter.

Bendheim, Paar Searching For Doubles Consistency

     Nebraska’s top doubles team of David Bendheim and Calin Paar hope to keep its two- match winning streak alive on Wednesday after starting the year 0-5.  The nation’s No. 17 ranked doubles team, who struggled early in the season, have recored victories at the No. 1 doubles spot the past two matches against Marquette and Texas-San Antonio.