Huskers Travel To Oklahoma State

    After two tough losses over the weekend, the No. 49 Nebraska men’s tennis team looks to end its current three-match losing streak when it travels to No. 30 Oklahoma State on Tuesday, April 7, at 2 p.m.  After putting together a 13-match winning streak, the Huskers have lost three straight matches all to ranked opponents, including No. 23 Boise State, No. 7 Baylor and No. 41 Oklahoma. Head coach Kerry McDermott and the Huskers are searching for their 17th victory of the season, which would tie McDermott’s career high for team victories in a season. 

    Several Huskers enter the match against the Cowboys after an impressive first weekend of Big 12 play. Christopher Aumueller, Francois Van Impe and Benedikt Lindheim all went 2-0 against Baylor and Oklahoma.  Aumueller has won three straight matches, two of which have been over ranked opponents. The freshman upset No. 80 James Meredith of Boise State and No. 44 Jordan Rux of Baylor in that streak.  <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Last Time Out

    In their last time on the court, the Huskers fell to the No. 41 Oklahoma Sooners 4-3 on Sunday, April 5, at the Nebraska tennis center. The loss was the Huskers’ second one-point setback of the weekend after falling to No. 7 Baylor on Saturday by the same score.

    In doubles, the No. 1 duo of David Bendheim and Calin Paar (NU) fell behind quickly to Ionut Beleleu and Sergey Avdeyev (OU) 3-0, but the Huskers’ top pair battled back and eventually evened the match at 6-6. The OU pair, however, was too much for the Huskers as they took the next two sets and the match 8-6.  After going down with an injury in the first point of the No. 3 doubles match, senior Hendrik Stahmer (NU) pushed through his injury and helped teammate Francois Van Impe (NU) take down Blake Boswell and George Chanturia (OU) 8-4 at the No. 3 spot for the Huskers’ only victory in doubles play.

    Lindheim (NU) was most impressive for the Huskers in singles play as he took down Chanturia (OU) in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, at the No. 5 spot. Aumueller (NU), who was the only Husker in the top four spots to win, was able to hold off a late surge by Pultr (OU) at the No. 3 spot, winning by the score of 6-4, 7-5.  Van Impe (NU) collected the last Husker victory of the day by defeating Blake Boswell (OU) in three sets. After dropping the first set 7-6, Van Impe came out in the second set and dominated, wining by the score of 6-1 to push the match into a tiebreaker, which he won 10-4.

Scouting the Oklahoma State Cowboys

    Oklahoma State enters Tuesday’s match with a 9-5 record and 0-2 record in Big 12 play.  The Cowboys have won two straight matches after beating SMU and upsetting No. 19 Louisville.  The Cowboy’s lineup includes that nation’s top player, Oleksandr Nedovyesov, and the 16th-ranked doubles team of Nedovyesov and Nathan Byrnes. Nedovyesov owns a 12-1 record this spring and has won 11 straight matches. He was named the Big 12 tennis player of the week for the fourth time in his career last week.