Huskers Travel South to Open 2020 Season

Nebraska Cornhuskers at Vanderbilt Commodores
Saturday, January 18 at Noon CT
Brownlee Tennis Center (Nashville, Tenn.)
Live Stream: https://vucommodores.com/watch-mens-vanderbilt-tennis/
 
Nebraska Cornhuskers at Vanderbilt Commodores
Monday, January 20 at 1:30 p.m. CT
Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center (Waco, Texas)
Live Stream: https://baylorbears.com/sports/2018/9/18/tennis-playsight.aspx
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/baylor/mten/
 
The Nebraska men's tennis team will start off its 2020 spring season with a two-match road trip, as the Huskers play at Vanderbilt on Saturday, January 18, at Noon CT in Nashville before taking on Baylor on Monday, January 20, at 1:30 p.m. CT in Waco, Texas.
 
Both matches will be played indoors. Live streams and stats are available in the links provided above. Updates will be posted to Huskers.com and @HuskerMTennis on Twitter.
 
Scouting Vanderbilt
• The Commodores finished the 2018-19 season with a 16-12 overall record, including a 4-8 mark in SEC play
• Vandy was ranked No. 32 nationally at the end of the year after reaching the SEC Championship quarterfinals and the NCAA Super Regionals
• This year, Vanderbilt has a balanced roster with two freshmen, four sophomores, three juniors and two seniors
• Senior Billy Rowe -- who won the Commodore Scramble fall tourney -- and junior George Harwell -- who reached the Round of 16 in the ITA Fall Regionals -- should lead the Commodores' lineup this season
 
Scouting Baylor
• Nationally-ranked at No. 5 in the 2020 ITA Preseason rankings, the Baylor Bears concluded last season with a 25-6 overall mark and a 3-2 record in Big 12 play, ending the year ranked No. 6.
• Baylor won the 2019 Big 12 Championship after beating No. 2 Texas, 4-1, in the finals, before reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Campionships, as the team lost to No. 4 Florida, 4-0
• The Bears return four letterwinners and receive seven newcomers to a roster filled with nationally-ranked athletes
• In the 2019-20 ITA Fall Rankings, Baylor has five representatives: No. 19 Sven Lah, No. 59 Matias Soto, No. 70 Adrian Boitan, No. 95 Constantin Frantzen and No. 111 Ryan Dickerson
• The duo of Lah/Frantzen is ranked No. 20, as Dickerson/Soto land at No. 25, Lah/Dickerson at No. 37, and Soto/Frantzen at No. 45
• Before playing the Huskers, Baylor will host Boise State and UT Arlington on Saturday, January 18 at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center
 
Series History
• Nebraska and Vanderbilt only ever played each other once, on January 28, 2011 -- that day, the No. 41 Huskers upset the No. 38 Commodores, 5-2, in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Palo Alto, Calif.
• The Huskers are 3-22 all-time against the Baylor Bears. Nebraska's last win was in 1996 at Baylor, 5-2
• Baylor and NU last met in 2019, when the No. 10 Bears earned a 4-0 win in Waco, Texas
 
Up Next
• The Huskers will make their 2020 season home debut on Sunday, February 2, with a pair of matches at the Dillon Tennis Center, as Nebraska takes on Auburn at 11 a.m. CT and UMKC at 5:30 p.m. CT
 
Dean, Gleason and Moreno Return to Lineup
• Senior Chris Dean and sophomores Will Gleason and Victor Moreno Lozano are the three letterwinners returning to the Husker lineup this year.
• Gleason and Moreno combined to 23 singles wins last season, as Gleason had the best conference finish by a Husker since three-time All-Big Ten Dusty Boyer went 7-2 in his senior year.
 
Huskers Welcome Two Transfers
• Patrick Cacciatore joins the Huskers after competing for South Carolina during his freshman season. Cacciatore, a five-star high school recruit from Tampa, was ranked as the No. 47 recruit in the nation and the No. 7 player in the state of Florida as a high school senior in 2018 and posted a 14-6 overall record in his one season with the Gamecocks.
• Bradley Mittleman comes to Nebraska after spending his freshman season at Old Dominion. Mittleman compiled a 2-1 singles record in the fall of 2018 for the Monarchs, and now the former No. 2 recruit in the state of Kansas is set to begin his next chapter with the Huskers.
 
Four Freshmen Join Nebraska
• Headlining the crop of newcomers is Andre Saleh of Newport Beach, Calif. Saleh was a five-star recruit and the No. 52-rated prospect in the nation.
• Joining Saleh is Chester Wickwire out of Canfield, Ohio, a four-star recruit and the fourth-ranked player in his state
• Two international prospects complete the four-man freshman class. Shunya Maruyama of Nagano, Japan, brings an impressive pedigree as a four-time International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Doubles Champion while Albert Sprlak-Puk hails from Brno, Czech Republic, and comes to Nebraska with a pair of European singles titles, including the 2017 Bavarian Championship in Germany and the singles title at the 2016 Krka Open in Slovenia to his credit.
 
Maymi Sets Strong Schedule in 2020
• Nebraska will face xxx opponents ranked in the top-50 nationally as of the end of last season: Texas (No. 1), Ohio State (No. 3), Baylor (No. 6), Illinois (No. 15), Oklahoma (No. 17), Michigan (No. 20), UCF (No. 31), Vanderbilt (No. 32), Penn State (No. 33), Minnesota (No. 39), Iowa (No. 44), Oregon (No. 47) and Indiana (No. 49)