Huskers Head South for Pair of Matches

No. 35 Nebraska (11-5) vs No. 38 Tulsa (11-5)
Match Date: Friday, March 26, 2010
Location: Tulsa, Okla.
Venue: Case Tennis Center
Start time: 5 p.m.

No. 35 Nebraska (11-5) at Wichita State (8-6)
Match Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Location: Wichita, Kan.
Venue: Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex 
Start time: 3 p.m.

Huskers Head South for Pair of Matches
The No. 35 Nebraska men's tennis team closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule this weekend with a pair of road matches against the No. 38 Tulsa Hurricanes and the Wichita State Shockers. The Huskers will look to get back on track after dropping back-to-back matches last week against a pair of ranked opponents to drop their overall record to 11-5. NU will take on the Hurricanes first on Friday, March 26, at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. First serve for the Huskers and Hurricanes is set for 5 p.m. Nebraska will then travel to Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 27, to take on the Shockers at 3 p.m.

Tulsa will enter the weekend with an overall record of 11-5, and fresh off a 4-0 victory over VCU in the consolation round of the Blue Gray Tennis Classic. The match between the Huskers and Hurricanes will mark the first time the two schools have met since Tulsa won a 5-2 decision in 1999.

Missouri Valley foe Wichita State will be hungry for a victory after dropping their last three contests entering its match against the Huskers. The Shockers have accumulated an 8-6 overall record this season while playing a challenging schedule, which featured four ranked opponents. Last season, NU defeated the Shockers 7-0 on March 7 for their sixth straight victory.

Last Time Out: Huskers Fall to No. 64 South Carolina
Playing without its' top player in Christopher Aumueller, the No. 25 Nebraska men's tennis team was defeated by No. 64 South Carolina, 4-3, on Friday, March 19, in Columbia, S.C.

In doubles, the Huskers were unable to secure a victory at any of the three spots and fell behind 1-0. Because of Aumueller's absence, Benedikt Lindheim and Francois Van Impe (NU) moved to the No. 2 doubles spot where they were defeated by Ivan Machado and Johannes Pulsfort (SC) 8-2. Playing at the No. 3 spot were true freshmen Eric Sock and Andre Stenger. The duo nearly pulled off the victory, but fell in a tiebreaker 8-7 (4) to Ivan Cressoni and Alexander Kostanov (SC).

The Huskers were able to win at the No. 3, 4, and 5 singles spots all in straight sets, but could not capture the deciding fourth point in one of the remaining matches. At the No. 3 spot, Van Impe (NU) defeated Kostanov (S.C) 6-0, 6-4, while Stenger took down Cressoni (SC) 7-6, 6-3, at the No. 4 spot. Lindheim (NU) defeated Machado (SC) 6-2, 6-0, for the Huskers other win at the No. 5 position.

Lindheim Establishes Himself at No. 5 Spot
With only two matches before Big 12 Conference play, Benedikt Lindheim has been on a tear as of late having won seven straight matches in singles play. Linheim's last defeat came on March 3, when he fell to Jean Erasmus (Drake) in a third set tiebreaker 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6). Lindheim leads the team with 13 singles victories, and has also accumulated a team-leading 10 wins in doubles play with partner Francois Van Impe.

Huskers Drop to No. 35 in Team Rankings
After reaching the top 25 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings for the first time in school history, the Huskers dropped 10 spots to No. 35 in the latest rankings released on March 23. The Huskers dropped after two tough losses to No. 22 Virginia Tech and No. 64 South Carolina, but will have a chance to make a move back up the ranking this week with a match against No. 38 Tulsa on their slate.

NU in the Rankings
Date     Ranking
1/5        #65
1/26      #65
2/4        #66      
2/12      #65
2/18      #65
2/23      #68
3/2        NR
3/9        #36      
3/16      #25
3/23      #35

Scouting the Tulsa Hurricanes
The No. 38 Hurricanes will enter the match vs. NU with an 11-5 overall record, and have defeated three teams ranked inside the top 40 including No. 37 South Florida, No. 30 Notre Dame and No. 35 Auburn. Tulsa is led by No. 88 Marcelo Arevalo, who holds a 4-0 record while playing at the No. 1 spot and was named the Conference USA Player of the Week after posting a 6-0 record at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic last week in Montgomery, Ala. The Hurricane's lineup features two more ranked players in No. 45 Ashley Watling and No. 114 Philip Stephens. Tulsa is coached by Vince Westbrook.

Scouting the Shockers
Coming out of the Missouri Valley Conference, the Wichita State Shockers will be looking to break their current three match losing streak against the Huskers. The Shockers currently hold an 8-6 overall record and are led by Adrian Chermaci, who leads the team in victories with 10. Most likely playing at the No. 1 spot will be Sven Kasper. Kasper owns a 3-4 record while playing at the top spot. Wichita State is coached by Brad Louderback.