Huskers Fall at D'Novo Championships

Tulsa, Okla.---The Nebraska men's tennis team was eliminated from play on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the D'Novo ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The Huskers had one singles player and two doubles teams in action, but were unable to collect a victory on the day.

After advancing to the second round, Calin Paar's (Neb.) singles tournament was ended by Jaak Poldma (Southern California) by the score of 6-3, 6-4. Poldma entered the tournament ranked at No. 49 in the nation.

In doubles play, Christopher Aumueller and Francois Van Impe (Neb.) were taken down by Jeff Dadamo and Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) 9-8, while David Bendheim and Paar (Neb.) were defeated by Jim Brouleau and Arthur Surreaux (New Mexico State) 9-8 in the first round. Head coach Kerry McDermott said his team must use this tournament as a learning experience for later in the season.

"Our guys will use this tournament to build on," McDermott said. "Eventually we need to learn to close matches out and step up and take charge during matches. There are only so many oppurtunities throughout the course of a match and when you get some chances to break or jump ahead and take control and we aren't doing it. Hopefully, we have a few weeks before regionals, we can learn from this and do some great things at regionals."

The Huskers will return to action on Thursday, Oct. 22, when they travel back to Tulsa, Okla., for the ITA Regional Championships.

Complete Results
Singles-Second Round
Jaak Poldma (Southern California) def. Calin Paar (Neb.) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles-First Round
Jeff Dadamo/Marcus Lunt (Texas A&M) def. Christopher Aumueller/Francois Van Impe (Neb.) 9-8
Jim Brouleau/Arthur Surreaux (New Mexico State) def. David Bendheim/Calin Paar (Neb.) 9-8