Huskers Battle in Bobby Bayliss Invitational

South Bend, Ind. -- The Nebraska men's tennis team won a total of 25 matches, including 19 singles victories, at the Bobby Bayliss Invitational hosted by Notre Dame over the weekend. 

All nine Huskers competed and many of the team's newcomers produced standout performances.

Three Huskers went 3-1 in singles play. Five-star recruit Andre Saleh defeated Johnathan Small (Notre Dame) 6-3, 6-4, on Friday and defeated Jarreua Campbell (Michigan State) 6-2, 6-3, on Saturday before dropping his third match to Alex Wesbrooks (Louisville). In his final match of the tournament, Saleh earned a 6-4, 6-4, win over Fran San Anders of Marquette.

Newcomer Chester Wickwire registered a pair of victories over players from Marquette, first defeating Julian Robinson 6-2, 6-0, on Friday and then earning a 6-1, 6-3, victory over Nathan Balthazor on Saturday. In the following match-up with Cleveland State's Raul Teichmann, Wickwire dropped the first set, 3-6, before rallying back to win the second set (7-6(4)) and the third set tiebreaker (1-0(10)). Wickwire lost his final match of the tournament to Clement Filho of Louisville on Sunday.

Freshman Shunya Maruyama went 3-1 in four relatively close matches throughout the tournament. In his first match, Maruyama won the first set against Matt Haplin (Notre Dame) 6-3, before dropping the second set, 3-6. The Nagano, Japan, native was able to persevere and win the third set tiebreak 1-0(5) to get the first-match victory. Maruyama lost a back-and-forth match to David Mizrahi (Louisville) 7-6(3), 5-7, 1-0(7), before rallying to defeat Fran San Anders (Marquette) 3-6, 7-6(6), 1-0(10). On Sunday, Maryuma concluded play by defeating Jarreua Campbell (Michigan State) 6-3, 6-3. 

Old Dominion transfer Bradley Mittleman got off to a 2-1 start, winning matches against Louisville's James Bell (7-5, 3-6, 1-0(6)) and Notre Dame's Andrew Mariados (6-1, 6-3) over the course of the weekend.

Senior Chris Dean, the lone four-year player on the team, defeated Shaddy Khalafallah of Marquette (6-2, 6-0) on Friday and won a tight match over Marcus Sulan of Louisville (6-7(4), 6-3, 1-0(5)) on Saturday en route to a 2-0 record in singles competition. 

Sophomore returnee Victor Moreno Lozano registered wins against Western Michigan's Zac Faveri (6-3, 6-3) and Marquette's Stefan Dragovic (6-3, 6-4) before falling to Denver's James Davis and Nico Mostardi of Cleveland State, who was named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of competition. 

Overall, Nebraska posted a 19-14 record in singles matches. 

In doubles competition, the Huskers used several different player combinations throughout the tournament, compiling an overall mark of 7-5 . The most successful pairing featured two newcomers. South Carolina transfer Patrick Cacciatore and freshman Albert Sprlak-Puk went 2-1 at the tournament, defeating the Illinois tandem of Lucas Horve/Alex Bancila, 6-4, before winning a close match against Wisconsin duo Gabriel Huber/Daniel Nuzhny, 7-6(3).   

Results 

Day 1: 
Singles
Patrick Cacciatore - 0-1
Chris Dean - 1-0
Will Gleason - 0-1
Victor Moreno Lozano - 1-0 
Shunya Maruyama - 1-0
Bradley Mittleman - 1-0
Andre Saleh - 1-0
Albert Sprlak-Puk - 1-0
Chester Wickwire - 1-0

Doubles:
Cacciatore/Sprlak-Puk (NEB) def. Horve/Bancila (ILL) 6-4
Chen/Wilson (LOU) def. Lozano/Mittleman (NEB) 7-6(5)
Gleason/Saleh (NEB) def. Kuszynski/Randall (W MICH) 7-5
Maruyama/Wickwire (NEB) def. Terry/Santilli (CLEV ST) 6-3
Maruyama/Saleh (NEB) def. Campbell/Matsuno (MICH ST) 6-1
Robinson/Dragovic (MARQ) def. Dean/Wickwire (NEB) 6-2
Sculley/Huber (WISC) def. Cacciatore/Sprlak-Puk (NEB) 7-6(1)
Shanklin/Balthozer (LOU) def. Lozano/Mittleman (NEB) 6-2


Day 2
Singles: 
Patrick Cacciatore - 1-1
Chris Dean - 1-0
Will Gleason - 0-2
Victor Moreno Lozano - 1-1 
Shunya Maruyama - 1-1
Bradley Mittleman - 1-0
Andre Saleh - 1-1
Albert Sprlak-Puk - 0-2
Chester Wickwire - 2-0

Day 3
Singles: 
Patrick Cacciatore - 1-0
Will Gleason - 1-0
Victor Moreno Lozano - 0-1 
Shunya Maruyama - 1-0
Bradley Mittleman - 0-1
Andre Saleh - 1-0
Albert Sprlak-Puk - 0-1
Chester Wickwire - 0-1

Doubles:
Cacciatore/Sprlak-Puk (NEB) def. Huber/Nuzhny (WISC) 7-6 (3)
Gleason/Moreno Lozano (NEB) def. Sulen/Paredes (LOU) 6-2
Mittleman/Wickwire (NEB) def. Campbell Matsuno (MICH ST) 7-5
Shanklin/Balthazor (MARQ) def. Maruyama/Saleh (NEB) 6-2