Huskers Release 2010-11 Schedule

Lincoln, Neb.--- Head coach Kerry McDermott and the Nebraska men’s tennis team released their 2010-11 schedule on Thursday, June 3. After playing one of the toughest schedules in school history last season and advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history, the Huskers will face a similar challenge next season with 14 matches scheduled against teams that made the NCAA tournament last year.

"We feel that one of the most important aspects to keep improving as a program is to play one of the most competitive schedules in the country," head coach Kerry McDermott said. "With the strength of our schedule, we want to give our players the best opportunity to play the top competition in the nation, and therefore, develop as players and a program."

Before the spring season begins, the Huskers will play in four tournaments in the fall. NU will begin with the UVa Classic and the UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational, both set to take place in Charlottesville, Va. The Huskers will then play in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., before finishing the fall season at the ITA Regional Championship in Norman, Okla.

The Huskers will open the spring season on the road for six straight matches beginning with Florida State on Jan. 22, at 10 a.m. The Seminoles reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last season. NU upset the No. 22 Seminoles in 2005, 4-3, in the last meeting between the two teams in 2006. Later in the day, the Huskers will take on Furman for their second match of the year.

NU will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to take part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend for their next two matches. NU will play Vanderbilt on Jan. 28, at Noon, and will play in a second match between either Santa Clara or Stanford on Jan. 29. NU finishes the road trip with matches against Oregon and Washington. McDermott talked about the challenging road matches his team will face early in the season.

"We realize that we have a few tough road matches, much like last season, but as coaches we feel we were able to play through it in 2010, and that we will achieve our goal of reaching the NCAA tournament again due to the fact that we are playing such a tough schedule with a very talented roster."

The Huskers open the home portion of their schedule against three NCAA tournament qualifiers from last season including Binghamton, Western Michigan and Minnesota, before battling instate-foe Creighton for their fourth consecutive home match.
The Huskers will hit the road for another road trip against Wisconsin, Drake, Denver, and UNLV, before taking on Wichita State at the Nebraska Tennis Center on March 12. NU will finish non-conference play on a five match road trip against Southern Miss., LSU, Mississippi, New Mexico and Fresno State.

Baylor and Oklahoma will visit the Nebraska Tennis Center to open conference play for the Huskers. Both the Bears and Sooners advanced to the round of eight in last years NCAA tournament. The Huskers will then face one of the toughest stretches of matches of the season against Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Texas, all on the road. The Huskers will close the regular season against Texas Tech at the Nebraska Tennis Center before traveling to the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas. McDermott is excited about the direction of his program.

"The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 and five in the top 20," McDermott said. "We feel like we have closed the gap on those teams and want to continue to do so in the coming years. We know we are on track. The new recruits and players that are coming back are all committed to what we are trying to build as a program and are excited about the opportunity to play this schedule. We as coaches know that we as a team will be ready for this schedule next season."