Huskers Downed in Mississippi

Starkville, Miss. - The No. 41 Nebraska men's tennis team played its second SEC opponent in as many days on Wednesday, falling 7-0 to No. 31 Mississippi State (9-5). NU slipped to 12-6 on the year.

For the second straight match, the Huskers lost the doubles point. NU wasn't able to win a match in doubles play. On court No. 1, the match went into a tiebreaker, but Mississippi State's duo of Louis Cant and Malte Stropp defeated Nebraska's Christopher Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim, 8-7 (3).

The Huskers were unable to pick up any singles points along the way with Mississippi State winning all six matches in straight sets.

On court No. 1, Mississippi State's No. 84 Artem Ilyushin defeated NU's Calin Paar, 6-2, 6-3. The Bulldogs' No. 85 George Coupland was victorious over NU's Benedikt Lindheim, 6-2, 6-3. Mississippi State's James Chaudry defeated NU's Tom Blackwell, 6-1, 6-3. Blackwell was playing at the No. 3 spot in the Huskers' line-up.

At the No. 4 spot, the Bulldogs' Malte Stropp defeated the Huskers' Sebastian Florczyk, 7-5, 6-2. Winning their match at the No. 5 spot for Mississippi State was No. 92 Louis Cant, who defeated Eric Sock, 6-1, 6-0. At the No. 6 spot,MSU's Zach White was victorious over NU's Robert Schulze, 6-2, 6-0.

Nebraska head coach, Kerry McDermott believes that this match can make the Huskers abetter team in the future.

"Mississippi State took it to us today," McDermott said. "We learned a valuable lesson, but this will make us a better team for our up coming matches."

Nebraska will next take to court on Friday, March 26, when they take on the New Mexico Lobos in Albuquerque, N.M., at 2 p.m.  

No. 31 Mississippi State 7, No. 41 Nebraska 0

DOUBLES

1. No. 69 Cant/Stropp (MSU) def. No. 65 Aumueller/Lindheim (NU) 8-7(3)

2. Chaudry/Coupland (MSU) def. Florczyk/Stenger (NU) 8-2

3. Ilyushin/White (MSU) def. Paar/Schulze (NU) 8-5

Order of Finish: 2,3,1

SINGLES

1. No. 84 Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. Calin Paar  (NU) 6-2, 6-3

2. No. 85 George Coupland (MSU) def. Benedikt Lindheim (NU) 6-2, 6-3

3. James Chaudry (MSU) def. Tom Blackwell (NU) 6-1, 6-3

4. Malte Stropp (MSU) def. Sebastian Florczyk (NU) 7-5, 6-2

5. No. 92 Louis Cant (MSU) def. Eric Sock (NU) 6-1, 6-0

6. Zach White (MSU) def. Robert Schulze (NU) 6-2, 6-0

Order of Finish: 6,5,1,2,3,4