Nebraska Looks to Get Back on Winning Track at Home

The No. 69 Nebraska men's tennis team returns home for the weekend as it plays a pair of dual matches at the WoodsTennisCenter on Saturday, Feb. 12. The Huskers open the day against the SMS Bears at 9 a.m. and then face the Wichita State Shockers at 6 p.m. that evening. Admission is free.

 

NU is 2-3 on the year and fell from No. 55 in the first poll of the regular season to No. 69 this week. Nebraska owns wins over Rice, 4-3, and IdahoState, 7-0 but has suffered losses against No. 1 Baylor, 7-0, and one-point setbacks against Air Force and Denver, 4-3.

 

Nebraska hopes to have senior Joel Reckewey and junior Joerg Barthel back in top form this weekend. The pair of been slowed by injuries this spring, with Reckewey missing all but one dual match this year. With the duo in action in the season opener, Nebraska posted a victory over then-No. 16 Rice on the road.

 

NU looks to end the two-match skid when it takes on SMS Saturday morning. Nebraska opened last season with a 4-3 road victory over the Bears in Springfield, Mo. It was one of three matches the Huskers won by a single point.

 

SMS enters the weekend with a 1-2 record after posting a 7-0 victory over Saint Louis last weekend. The Bears dropped a 6-1 contest against Tulsa to open the year and followed with a loss at No. 19 Arkansas, 5-2.

 

SMS is led by junior Jiri Spousta, who was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 9 after winning his singles and double match against the Billikens, both at the No. 1 spot. Spousta won the MVC singles title at the No. 1 position in January, beating Indiana State's Anton Tsymbalov, 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-1).

 

The Bears were picked to finish second in the conference in the preseason coaches' poll. SMS was one spot ahead of the two-time defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Wichita State Shockers. Each team received two first-place votes.

 

The Huskers knocked off WichitaState last season, 5-2, on the road. It was the Huskers' first of three wins against ranked teams in 2004, as the Shockers entered the matchup at No. 75 in the ITA poll.

 

Wichita State enters this weekend's contest with a 2-0 dual match record after dismantling CowleyCountyCC and UMKC, 7-0, last week.

 

The Shockers are led by all-league performer Goran Vujaklija and Gabriel Loredo. The sophomores finished first at the MVC Individual Championships last month, with Vujaklija winning the title at No. 2 singles while Loredo added a championship at the No. 3 slot. Thiago Dos Santos also reached the final of the No. 6 singles flight, where he fell in three sets.

 

Following Saturday's contest, Nebraska hits the road for more than a month before returning to the courts in Lincoln on March 29 against Colorado. Nebraska plays three matches in Des Moines, Iowa, on Feb. 18-20, facing DePaul, Drake and Arkansas-Little Rock.

 

Huskers Drop Close Matches

The Husker men’s tennis team dropped a pair of tight matches against Air Force, 4-3, and Denver, 4-3, last weekend to fall to 2-3 on the year. NU opened the weekend with a 7-0 victory over IdahoState. Both Air Force (No. 71) and Denver (No. 72) entered the ITA poll this week after the victory over the Cornhuskers.

 

Nebraska went down to the wire against the Pioneers, as Adrian Szatmary's contest at the No. 3 singles slot decided the match. After Denver won the doubles point and the top two singles slots, James Clow, Marcus Karner and Jose Rivera each won at the bottom three singles slots, respectively, to pull NU into a 3-3 tie. Szatmary won the first set 7-5, and had DU's Niklas Persson on the ropes before Persson came back to post 6-3 victories in the second and third set to give his team the victory.

 

Nebraska Earns Team Ranking

The Cornhuskers remained in the ITA poll for the second straight week as they were ranked No. 69 on Feb. 8. NU entered the previous poll at No. 55 before posting a 1-2 record last week.

 

Nebraska was ranked once last season when it came in at No. 75 for one week. Before that, NU's last appearance in the ITA national rankings came in 2002 when the Huskers spent eight weeks in the poll and finished the year at No. 72.

 

Clow Providing Strong Support

Sophomore James Clow has come on strong for the Huskers after getting settled into the grind of Division I play. The Durban, South Africa, native owns a 4-3 overall record this spring, but is 4-1 in dual matches. He has won three straight dual matches. Clow ended last season winning six of his last 11 matches after dropping eight of his first 10 to open his career.

 

Clow's four dual match victories ties Jose Rivera for the team lead this spring. He is 2-0 at the No. 3 slot, and has helped Nebraska post winning records at the Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 slots. Clow's best mark last season came at the No. 4 position, where he went 5-3 on the year.

 

Newcomers Adding Depth for Huskers

With senior Joel Reckewey sidelined with an injury and junior Joerg Barthel not yet back to 100 percent, Nebraska has had to rely on a pair of newcomers to fill the void in dual match play. Freshmen Marcus Karner and Karl Jones have done a solid job when called on, as they have combined to post a 3-2 dual match record, with Karner earning a 2-1 mark at the No. 5 singles slot. Jones is 2-1 overall this spring after going 1-4 in fall action, while Karner has posted a 3-3 record in 2005 following a 4-5 fall campaign.