Huskers Head North For Pair of Road Matches

   Looking to break its current three-match losing streak, the No. 65 Nebraska men's tennis team will travel to the state of Michigan for a pair of road matches. The Huskers will kick off their weekend on Friday, Feb. 19, with a match against Michigan State scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The match against the Spartans marks the third opponent from the Big 10 conference Nebraska will play this season after the Huskers played Minnesota and Wisconsin earlier in the year. It will be the second time the two schools have met, with the last time coming in 1994 when Michigan State defeated NU by a 6-1 count.  NU will then travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to take on the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. to finish play for the weekend. 
   The Huskers enter the weekend after falling in three straight tight matches.  Two of those three matches came against ranked opponents including No. 25 Wisconsin and No. 31 Minnesota.

Van Impe, Aumueller Off to Solid Starts
   Two of the hottest Huskers entering this weekend's matches are No. 30 Christopher Aumueller and No. 91 Francois Van Impe. Each player has only dropped one singles match so far, while both are contributing heavily on the doubles court. Aumueller owns a 4-1 record while playing at the Huskers No. 1 singles spot. Van Impe is as equally impressive as he owns a 5-1 mark while playing at the No. 2, 3 and 4 spots for NU. In doubles Van Impe and sophomore Benedikt Lindheim have a 4-1 record while playing at the No. 3 doubles spot.

Last Time Out: No. 25 Wisconsin Holds Off Huskers
   The Huskers dropped their third straight match on Thursday, Feb. 11, falling to No. 25 Wisconsin, 5-2, at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wis. With the loss, NU's record dropped to 3-3 on the season, while Wisconsin improved to 7-1. The Huskers captured the doubles point for the first time in three matches, but dropped every singles match except at the No. 4 position in the loss.
   David Bendheim and Calin Paar, who were playing doubles together for the first time of the season, defeated the No. 3-ranked doubles team in the nation Moritz Baumann and Marek Michalicka (WIS) 8-5 to pick up the Huskers' first victory of the night. After Benedikt Lindheim and Francois Van Impe (NU) fell at the No. 3 spot, the doubles point would be decided at the No. 2 position where Christopher Aumueller and Andre Stenger were playing together for the first time this year.  Aumueller and Stenger came out on top defeating Chris Freeman and Patrick Pohlmann (WIS) 8-4 to secure the doubles point and put the Huskers up 1-0 in the overall team score.
   After helping upset the No. 3-ranked doubles team in the nation, Paar (NU) followed that up with an impressive win at the No. 4 singles spot for NU's only singles victory. Paar took down Chris Freeman (WIS) in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
    Two Huskers suffered their first singles loss of the season on Thursday as Aumueller (NU) lost at the No. 1 position to No. 6 Baumann (WIS) in a three set thriller 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. The sophomore's record dropped to 4-1 after the loss. The other Husker to drop his first match of the season was Van Impe, who fell to Patrick Pohlmann (WIS) at the No. 3 spot.

McDermott Works to Spark Doubles Lineup
   After losing two straight doubles points to both Minnesota and Denver, head coach Kerry McDermott made a switch in his doubles lineup which ended up paying dividends for the Huskers in their match against No. 25 Wisconsin.  After playing with Stenger at the No. 2 spot for the first part of the season, McDemortt moved Paar to the No. 1 team with Bendheim, and moved Aumueller down to the No. 2 team with Stenger. The switch resulted in the No. 1 pair upsetting the No. 3-ranked doubles team in the nation and NU capturing the doubles point for the first time in two contests. At the No. 2 doubles spot, Stenger and Aumueller played together for the first time of the season and defeated Chris Freeman and Patrick Pohlmann. The Huskers' No. 3 doubles team appears to be set as Lindheim and Van Impe own a 4-1 record this season.

Scouting the Spartans
   The Michigan State Spartans enter Friday's match riding a four-match winning streak and have a 6-2 overall record. The Spartans defeated Ball State, 5-2, on Feb. 6, in their last match. At the No. 1 spot, MSU will be led by Ronnie Hulewicz, who owns a 4-3 record while playing in the Spartans' top spot. One of the hottest Spartans is Denis  Bogatov, who has won five-straight matches at the No. 3 spot. In doubles, the Spartans have won the doubles point six out of the first eight matches this year.  Michigan State is coached by Gene Orlando.

Scouting the Broncos
   After winning their first seven matches of the season, the Western Michigan Broncos are looking to get back on track after dropping their last contest to No. 38 Northwestern, 5-2, to drop their overall record to 7-1 on the season. The Broncos are led by Michael Calderone, who has a perfect 8-0 record so far this spring, including at 6-0 mark at the No. 1 spot. Casey Cullen, who won the Mid-American Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for his performance last week, enters the match with a 5-1 record and the winner of four straight matches. The Broncos started their season with an upset of No. 74 DePaul and later defeated team such as Illinois State, Green Bay and Dayton in their seven match win streak to begin the year. Western Michigan is coached by Dave Morin.

Live Stats Now Available for Husker Home Matches
   If you are not able to make it to the Huskers' home matches this season, you can now view up-to-the-minute live stats for all men's and women's tennis matches played at the Nebraska Tennis Center and NU Varsity Courts. Click on the live stats link on Huskers.com for the live stats.