Huskers Drop Tight Battle to Omaha

Lincoln - The Nebraska men's tennis team lost its season opener on Saturday to Omaha, 4-3, at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

Saturday's action began with doubles play. Dylan Bednarczyk and David Samardzjia fell at the No. 1 spot to Razvan Grigorescu and Colin Buckley, 6-1. The doubles point was secured by the No. 2 spot for UNO after the Nebraska duo Toby Boyer and Micah Klousia suffered a 6-4 loss to Nathan Reekie and Matt Dunn. UNO completed a sweep with a 6-3 win for Alex Woodward and Louis-Jonas Heizlsperge over NU's Rok Krizaj and Tomislav Antoljak. 

In singles action, the Huskers battled through close sets. At the No. 2 spot, Bednarczyk was outstanding in a 6-3, 6-3 win that gave Nebraska a point . Klousia competed at the No. 5 spot and came out on top against Woodward, 6-3, 6-3. With the Huskers in the lead, Antoljak rallied from a first set loss to post a win at the No. 3 spot to give Nebraska a 3-1 lead in the match.

But Nebraska could not hold the lead as UNO won the final three singles matches, all in three sets. After winning his first set at the No. 6 spot, Krizaj fell to Heizlsperger, who took the last two sets 6-3, 6-1. Omaha tied the match when Grigorescu defeated Boyer, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. With the score tied, the dual came down to a battle at the No. 4 spot between Samardzija and Buckley. Samardzija won the first set, 6-3, only to lose a piar of heartbreakers in the final two sets, 7-6 and 7-5, as Omaha claimed the match victory. 

Head Coach Kerry McDermott commented on the close match to Omaha and his hopes for future matches.

"It was a tough loss today, and I've got to give UNO credit. We knew before the match started it would be a dogfight with Chris Dean out of the lineup due to a concussion over the Christmas Break," McDermott said. "They played really good doubles and took it to us on all three courts, which was disappointing because this week we concentrated on some doubles combinations and some good doubles practices. I thought our team competed very well after losing the doubles point, and we won the first set in four of the six singles matches but couldn't finish especially late in the match with our No. 4 guy serving to win the match for a team victory.

"I think today we improved a lot from what I saw this fall as a team and must continue to work hard and learn from today. The good thing is it's just the start of the season and if we can get Chris back in the lineup, it gives us a big boost as we continue to move toward Big Ten play come middle of March."

Nebraska continues play next week with a trip to the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Winston Salem, N.C. The Huskers will face nationally ranked Wake Forest on Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. to open the weekend, before facing either Auburn or Georgia State. 

Doubles Results 
No. 1 Razvan Grigorescu/Colin Buckley (UNO) def. Dylan Bednarczyk/David Samardzija (NEB) 6-1 
No. 2 Nathan Reekie/Matt Dunn (UNO) def. Toby Boyer/Micah Klousia (NEB) 6-4
No. 3 Alex Woodward/Louis-Jonas Heizlspeger (UNO) def. Rok Krizaj/ Tomislav Antoljak (NEB) 6-3

Order of Finish: 1,3,2 

Singles Results 
No. 1 Razvan Grigorescu (UNO) def. Toby Boyer (NEB) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
No. 2 Dylan Bednarczyk (NEB) def. Matt Dunn (UNO) 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 Tomislav Antoljak (NEB) def. Nathan Reekie (UNO) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 Colin Buckley (UNO) def. David Samardzija (NEB) 3-6, 7-6, 7-5
No. 5 Micah Klousia (NEB) def. Alex Woodward (UNO) 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Louis-Jonas Heizlsperger (UNO) def. Rok Krizaj (NEB) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1

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