Huskers Take First Round of Big Ten Championship

Champaign, Ill. - The Nebraska men's tennis team competed in the first round of competition against the seventh-seeded Michigan State Spartans. The Huskers came out with the win, producing a 4-3 mark over Michigan State, securing them a spot in the quarterfinals on Friday against No. 2 seed Ohio State at 2 p.m. 

The Huskers started off the match gaining the advantage of the doubles point with a win at No. 2 followed by another win at No. 1. Linus Erhart and Scott Elsass played at No. 2 against Mac Roy and Gijs Linders where Erhart and Elsass pounded out an 8-1 win over the Spartans. At No. 1, Bradford Zitsch and Dusty Boyer also saw success against Harry Jadun and Jasper Koenen with an 8-3 mark. Marc Herrmann and Chris Hobgarski began their match at No. 3 against Brett Forman and Doug Zade but did not finish.

Nebraska got off to a rocky start in singles, finishing the first singles match at No. 5, Chris Hobgarski competed against Michigan State's Jasper Koenen. Koenen came out on top going 6-3 in the first set follwed by a 6-2 win in the second set. This loss for the Huskers put the overall score at 1-1.

At No. 2, Linus Erhart took on Brett Forman where they also had a 6-3, 6-2 match. No. 6 followed where Bradford Zitsch played Michael Dube. Zitsch had a close first set where Dube won 6-4 followed by the second set of 6-2. With Michigan State at a 3-1 advantage, it was time for the Huskers to put the hammer down at the remaining singles positions. 

Andrew Dzulnysky competed at No. 4 against Mac Roy where he had a tough first set of 7-6(2). Luckily, Dzulynsky was able to win the first set in a tie breaker and completed the second set with a win of 6-3. 

At No. 3, Marc Herrmann fought against Harry Jadun in a tough first set where Herrmann lost 2-6. Herrmann came back strong in the second set, producing a 6-1 win followed by a 6-3 finish in the third set, leaving the Huskers and Spartans tied again at 3-3.

In the remaining match at No. 1, No. 111 Dusty Boyer and Gijs Linders battled it out in three close sets. Boyer took the first going 7-6(5) in a close tie breaker. Linders came back in the second set where the two went 5-7 but Boyer ultimately came back in the final set, going 7-5 and taking the match. 

"We are excited to move into the second round of the Big Ten Champioinships after beating Michigan State today 4-3 and look forward to playing No. 11 Ohio State tomorrow at 2 p.m.," said coach Kerry McDermott. "The great thing about the victory today was that we played about as good as we have all year in winning the doubles point to start the match in a very convincing fashion. That really got our momentum going into the singles. We told the team taht Michigan State is well coached and they are very good competitors. We needed to stay focused and take care of our singles play. The funny thing is, is we struggled a little today in some spots that I thought we would do well but came back as a team being down 3-2 to win the match. Andrew Dzulynsky has struggled all year and he fought through big for us, beating a guy that beat him earlier in the ear in straight sets. Then Marc Herrmann came back from a set down to win in three sets that got the train moving in our direction. Dusty Boyer finished about the most exciting match so far of the tournament when he came back from 0-3 down in the third set to secure the victory for the Huskers! Our team battled hard and didn't quit. It was a great thing as we always tell our team to not let your emotions determine your effort, but compete until the end."

Nebraska - 4

Michigan State - 3

 

Singles 

 

No. 1 - #111 Dusty Boyer (NEB) def. Gijs Linders (MSU) 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-5

No. 2 - Brett Forman (MSU) def. Linus Erhart (NEB) 6-3, 6-2

No. 3 - Marc Herrmann (NEB) def. Harry Jadun (MSU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3

No. 4 - Andrew Dzulynsky (NEB) def. Mac Roy (MSU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3

No. 5 - Jasper Koenen (MSU) def. Chris Hobgarski (NEB) 6-3, 6-2

No. 6 - Michael Dube (MSU) def. Bradford Zitsch (NEB) 6-4, 6-2

 

Doubles 

 

No. 1 - Bradford Zitsch/Dusty Boyer (NEB) def. Harry Jadun/Jasper Koenen (MSU) 8-3

No. 2 - Linus Erhart/Scott Elsass (NEB) def. Mac Roy/Gijs Linders (MSU) 8-1

No. 3 - Brett Forman/Doug Zade (MSU) vs. Marc Herrmann/Chris Hobgarski (NEB) 5-3 dnf