Huskers Take Down No. 57 Wisconsin

Minneapolis, Minn. - The Nebraska men's tennis team kicked off Big Ten Championship play on Thursday morning where they defeated the No. 57 Wisconsin Badgers in a 4-2 final mark. 

It was an exciting morning for the Huskers, as Dusty Boyer was named first-team All-Big Ten and capped the morning by clinching the victory over the Badgers with a comeback win at No. 1 singles. It marked the third straight year Boyer has been named first-team All-Big Ten.

 

"Great college match today and some great tennis by the team," said Head Coach McDermott. "We played great doubles and that really carried our momentum into the singels matches. Today, we played with very good energey and competed like champions. We are excited to live another day and would like to upset Ohio State tomorrow."

With the win, the Huskers will now compete on Friday at 9 a.m. against top-seeded Ohio State.

Kicking off the match with doubles competition, Andrew Dzulynsky and Ford Zitsch competed out of the No. 3 position where they took over Darius Mackenzie and John Zordani in a 6-2 tally. Following at No. 2, Marc Herrmann and Scott Elsass had a tough match against Chema Carranza and Jakhongir Jalalov, but still came out with a win at 7-5 to earn the doubles point.

With the doubles point in hand, the Huskers took on singles with full force. Leading off at No. 2, Herrmann and Remy had a rough go, where Remy went 6-0, 7-5 over Herrmann to put Wisconsin at a tie with the Huskers, 1-1. 

Toby Boyer came through at the No. 3 position where he managed a 7-5, 6-4 finish over Carranza to put the Huskers back in the lead.  At No. 6, Tomislav Antoljak took a hit against John Zordani in a straight 6-4, 6-4 finish to even the match at 2-2.

Zitsch had a rough go against Mackenzie at No. 5 singles, where he went 6-2 in the first set followed by a 3-6 loss in the second. Zitsch took control to go 6-4 in the final set at No. 5 to put the Huskers ahead for good.

Wrapping up singles at No. 1, Dusty Boyer and Dodridge battled it out in a three-set match. Boyer took the first set 6-3, but lost at 4-6 in the second set. Coming down to the third set, Boyer trailed 4-1, but battled back to take the match to a tiebreaker, posting a  7-6 (5) mark to take the win and secure the overall victory for the Huskers.

In addition to Boyer's honor, Andrew Dzulynsky won Sportsmanship Award honors. Students who are chosen for the Sportsmanship Award have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. 

 

Doubles 

No. 1 Dusty Boyer/Toby Boyer (NEB) vs. Josef Dodridge/Lamar Remy (WIS) 5-6, unfinished

No. 2 Marc Herrmann/Scott Elsass (NEB) def. Chema Carranza/Jakhongir Jalalov (WIS) 7-5

No. 3 Andrew Dzulynsky/Ford Zitsch (NEB) def. Darius Mackenzie/John Zordani (WIS) 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,2 

Singles 

No. 1 Dusty Boyer (NEB) def. Josef Dodridge (WIS) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5)

No. 2 Lamar Remy (WIS) def. Marc Herrmann (NEB) 6-0, 7-5

No. 3 Toby Boyer (NEB) def. Chema Carranza (WIS) 7-5, 6-4

No. 4 Andrew Dzulynsky (NEB) vs. Osgar O'Hoisin (WIS) 4-6, 6-2, 3-5, unfinished

No. 5 Ford Zitsch (NEB) def. Darius Mackenzie (WIS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

No. 6 John Zordani (WIS) def. Tomislav Antoljak (NEB) 6-4, 6-4

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