Huskers Set to Close Season at Home

No. 38 Nebraska (15-9, 1-3 Big 12) vs No. 26 Oklahoma (13-6, 2-3 Big 12)
Match Date: Friday, April 22, 2011
Location: Lincoln, Neb.
Venue: Vine Street Courts
Start time:3 p.m.

No. 38 Nebraska (15-9, 1-3 Big 12) vs No. 21 Texas Tech (15-8, 2-3 Big 12)
Match Date: Saturday April 23, 2011
Location: Lincoln, Neb.
Venue: Nebraska Tennis Center or Vine Street Courts
Start time:3 p.m.

Nebraska is set to open up its last Big 12 home stand with a pair of ranked foes visiting Lincoln. The No. 38 Huskers are 15-9 on the year and 1-3 in Big 12 play. Their two matches will take place on Friday, April 22 and Saturday April 23. Depending on the weather, the matches will either be at the Nebraska Tennis Center or outdoors at the Vine Street Courts.

Nebraska's first of two matches will be on Friday, April 22, at 3 p.m. against the No. 26 Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners are 13-6 on the year and 2-3 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma is coming off a tough weekend where they went 0-2, losing to Baylor and Texas Tech both by scores of 4-3.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are 15-8 on the year with a 2-3 record in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders are ranked 21st nationally and enter the weekend coming off a win over Oklahoma, 4-3. The match against Texas Tech will be on Saturday, April 23, and will begin at 3 p.m.

History with the Sooners
Last year, No. 40 Nebraska traveled to face the No. 21 Oklahoma Sooners. The Huskers were defeated, 6-1. The Huskers lone point came when they won two of the three doubles matches, thus picking up the doubles point. The Huskers were swept in singles play.

History with the Red Raiders
Last season the No. 38 Nebraska Cornhuskers traveled to Lubbock, Texas, to take on the No. 21 Texas Tech Red Raiders. Nebraska was defeated, 4-3. The Huskers were swept in all three doubles matches, but fought back and won three of the six singles matches.

Scouting the Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma enters Friday's match ranked No. 26 nationally with a 13-6 overall record while going 2-3 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma has two ranked singles players in No. 32 Ionut Beleleu and No. 46 Costin Paval. Oklahoma also has two doubles teams ranked in the duo of No. 60 Tsvetan Mihov and Beleleu. The second pair is ranked is No. 78 Costin Paval and Peerakit Siribautwong. Oklahoma is coached John Roddick who is in his second season at the helm.

Scouting the Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech enters Saturday's match with a 15-8 overall record and a 2-3 record in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders are ranked No. 21 nationally. Texas Tech has two singles players ranked in No. 23 Gonzalo Escobar and No. 24 Raony Carvalho, who is 20-1 on the season and 20-0 while playing at the No. 2 spot in the Texas Tech line-up. Carvalho is also 9-1 against nationally ranked players. The Red Raiders also have two doubles teams ranked nationally with the team of No. 18 Raony Carvalho and Rafael Garcia and the No. 43 duo of Gonzalo Escobar and Vitor Manzini.

In Latest Rankings, Huskers Stay Put at No. 38
In the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released on April 19, the Huskers stayed put at No. 38. Nebraska is one of six Big 12 teams that are ranked in the ITA top 50. The other five teams include: No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Baylor, No. 12 Texas, No. 21 Texas Tech and No. 26 Oklahoma.

The Huskers have on player ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings. The lone player is No. 68 Christopher Aumueller, who jumped seven spots after being ranked No. 75 last week. The Huskers also have three pairs ranked in doubles play. The three teams ranked are No. 51 Aumueller and Andre Stenger, No. 53 Aumueller and Benedikt Lindhiem and No. 85 Lindheim and Calin Paar.

NU in the Rankings
Date     Ranking
1/5         #42
1/25      #41
2/3        #37
2/8        #40
2/14      #41
2/22      #41
3/2        #32
3/8        #31
3/15      #36
3/22      #41
3/29      #39
4/5        #37
4/12      #38
4/19      #38

Last Week: Huskers Go 1-1 on the Road
The Huskers earned their first Big 12 win on the year when they knocked off Oklahoma State, 5-2, last Friday.

The Huskers started off the match winning the doubles point when they won two of the three doubles matches. On court No. 1, Nebraska's duo of Christopher Aumueller and Andre Stenger defeated Oklahoma State's team of Eric West and Maniel Bains, 8-3. On court No. 2, Nebraska's pair of Calin Paar and Benedikt Lindheim upset the No. 20 doubles team of Aleksey Bessonov and Rifat Biktyakov, 8-4.

The Huskers kept the momentum going when they won four of the six singles matches.

Playing at NU's No. 1 spot was No. 75 Aumueller, who defeated Oklahoma State's Maniel Bains, 6-3, 6-0. Nebraska's Paar defeated the Cowboys Biktyakov, 6-3, 6-3. Paar was playing at the No. 2 spot in the Huskers' line-up.

Also winning their matches for the Husker's was Lindheim and Sebastian Florczyk. Lindheim was playing at the No. 4 spot when he defeated Oklahoma State's Bessonov, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4. Florczyk defeated the Cowboys West, 6-4, 6-4. He was playing at the No. 5 spot in the Huskers' line-up.

In their second match of the weekend, the Huskers were downed by No. 11 Texas, 5-2.

For the second match in a row, the Huskers upset a top ranked doubles team in route to gaining the doubles point. This time for the Huskers at the No. 1 spot, it was the duo of Christopher Aumueller and Andre Stenger who defeated Texas' No. 6 ranked pair of Jean Andersen and Ed Corrie in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (6). Winning the second match for the Huskers in doubles play at the No. 3 spot was Sebastian Florczyk and Robert Schulze, who knocked off the Longhorns' Chris Camillone and Daniel Whitehead, 8-2. In a match between to ranked players on court No. 1, Texas' No. 49 Kellen Damico defeated Nebraska's No. 75 Christopher Aumueller, 6-4, 6-4.  On court No. 2 Texas' No. 33 Ed Corrie was victorious over NU's Calin Paar in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. On court No. 3, UT's No. 107 Jean Andersen knocked off NU's Andre Stenger, 6-4, 6-2.

Winning Nebraska's lone singles point was Benedikt Lindheim, who was on court No. 4. Lindheim defeated UT's Ben Chen in three sets, 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (2).

Live Stats
Live stats will be provided for the Huskers matches this weekend. Follow the link on the top of the page.