Huskers Soar Past Bluejays and Redbirds

The Nebraska men's tennis team kicked off its 2010 season on Saturday, Jan. 16, with a pair of dominating victories over two Missouri Valley Conference teams at the Nebraska Tennis Center. The Huskers took down in-state foe Creighton in their first match of the season by the score of 6-1, before defeating Illinois State 7-0 later in the day. The Huskers only droped four sets on the day and won five of the six doubles matches in route to their first two victories of the season, while Creighton and Illinois State dropped to 0-1 on the year.

The Huskers started off hot in doubles as Christopher Aumueller and David Bendheim (NU) defeated Billy Paluch and J.T. Christian (CU) at the No. 1 doubles spot. The duo jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and didn't look back defeating the Bluejay's No. 1 doubles team 8-3. The doubles point was secured at the No. 3 spot where sophomore Drew Freeman and freshman Brandon Videtich took down Bryan Lube and Sean Mathison (CU) 9-7. At the No. 2 doubles spot, Calin Paar and true freshman Eric Sock (NU) traded points with Gabe Nagy and Kyle Obermeier (CU) as the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie. Sock and Paar were able win the next to sets and take the match 8-6.

In singles play, the Huskers' line up featured two freshmen who were participating in their first spring dual match as Huskers. After winning his doubles match, Sock went on to defeat James McAvoy (CU) at the No. 5 singles spot 6-2, 6-4, for his first singles win of the season. Stenger battled back from a 3-0 deficit to take the first set of his match 7-6. After dropping the second set, Stenger lost a third set tiebreaker 10-8.  The Huskers' top three players Benedikt Lindheim, Francois Van Impe and Bendheim all won their singles matches in straight sets, while Boney won his match at the No. 6 spot in the third set tiebreaker 10-6. Head coach Kerry McDermott was impressed with the doubles play from his team.

"It was a good first victory for us,"McDermott said. "Creighton has improved a lot since last year and they played a tough doubles point. I was impressed with how our doubles stepped up and won. We stepped up when we needed to and played well."

In the Illinois State match, Van Impe and Lindheim made quick work of Skip Span and Micah LeMoine (ILL ST) at the No. 3 doubles spot to get the Huskers off on the right foot for their second match of the day. The duo jumped to an early 5-0 lead and defeated the pair 8-2. The two remaining doubles matches would both be decided by a tiebreaker with the Huskers winning at the No. 1 spot to secure the doubles point. Aumueller and Bendheim defeated Filip Miljevic and Alexander Pelaez (ILL ST) at the top spot, while Paar and Sock (NU) fell to Timon Reichelt and Matej Zlatkovic (ILL ST) at the No. 2 spot for the Huskers only doubles lose on the day.

In singles play, the top two singles spots were dominant as No. 30 Aumueller beat Pelaez (ILL ST) at the No. 1 spot 6-2, 6-2, for his first victory of the year, and No. 76 Paar took down Zlatkovic (ILL ST) 6-1, 6-2, at the No. 2 position. Bendheim, Lindheim and Sock all won in straight sets at their positions for their second victory of the day. Lindheim was most impressive dropping only three total sets in his two matches. Van Impe battled back from a set down to force his match to a third set tiebreaker where he won 12-10 giving the Huskers their 7-0 victory.

"We played really good doubles and kind of took the momentum away from them going into the singles play and I think you could see that," McDermott said. "We pretty much dominated singles and our top three guys really showed good leadership and set the tone. It was a good first two matches, but we have to keep improving for next weekend."

The Huskers return to action on Jan. 22, when they will take on Radford at the Nebraska Tennis Center at 6 p.m.

Results
Final Score: NU 6, CU 1
Order of finish: Doubles (1 3 2) Singles ( 2 3 1 4 6 5)
Singles
1. David Bendheim (NU) defeated Billy Paluch (CU) 6-2, 6-3 
2. Francois Van Impe (NU) defeated Gabe Nagy (CU) 6-0, 6-0
3. Benedikt Lindheim (NU) defeated Kyle Obermeier (CU) 6-1, 6-1
4. J.T. Christian (CU) defeated Andre Stenger (NU) 6-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-8)
5. Eric Sock (NU) defeated James McAvoy (CU) 6-2, 6-4
6- Taylor Boney (NU) defeated Bryan Lube (CU) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6)  
Doubles
1. David Bendheim/Christopher Aumueller (NU) defeated Billy Paluch/J.T. Christian (CU) 8-3
2. Calin Paar/Eric Sock (NU) defeated Gabe Nagy/Kyle Obermeier (CU) 8-6
3. Drew Freeman/Brandon Videtich (NU) defeated Bryan Lube/Sean Mathison (CU) 9-7

Results
Final Score: NU 7, ILL ST 0
Order of Finish: Doubles (3 1 2) Singles (5 2 4 6 1 3)
Singles
1. Christopher Aumueller (NU) defeated Alexander Pelaez (ILL ST) 6-2, 6-2
2. Calin Paar (NU) defeated Timon Reichelt (ILL ST) 6-1, 6-2
3. Francois Van Impe (NU) defeated Filip Milijevic (ILL ST) 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 (12-10)
4. David Bendheim (NU) defeated Matej Zlatkovic (ILL ST) 6-2, 6-3
5. Benedikt Lindheim (NU) defeated Skip Span (ILL ST) 6-0, 6-1
6. Eric Sock (NU) defeated Xavier Bairt-Ferrer (ILL ST) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
1. Christopher Aumueller/David Bendheim (NU) defeated Filip Milijevic and Alexander Pelaez (ILL ST) 9-8
2. Timon Reichelt and Matej Zlatkovic (ILL ST) defeated Calin Paar and Eric Sock (NU) 9-8
3. Francois Van Impe and Benedikt Lindheim (NU) defeated Skip Span and Micah LeMoine (ILL ST) 8-2