Friday, 04/29/2011

Huskers Head South for Big 12 Championship

First Round

No. 39 Nebraska (15-11, 1-5 Big 12) vs No. 14 Texas (17-7, 3-3 Big 12)
Match Date: Friday, April 29, 2011
Location: Waco, Texas
Venue: Baylor Tennis Center

Start time: 3 p.m.

Semifinals
Date: Saturday, April 30, 2011
Start time: Noon

Finals
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2011
Start time: 1 p.m.

 


Coming off two tough losses last weekend, the Nebraska men’s tennis team is set to travel to Waco, Texas, for their last Big 12 Tournament Championships. Nebraska enters the tournament with a record of 15-11 while going 1-5 in Big 12 play and is ranked No. 39. The Huskers are the sixth seed in the tournament and will face the No. 3 seed in Texas. Nebraska’s first-round match will be held on Friday, April 29, at the Baylor Tennis Center and is set to begin at 3 p.m.

 

The Longhorns enter the Big 12 Tournament coming off of a loss to in-state rival Texas A&M, 5-2 and are ranked 14th in the country. Texas finished the regular season with a record of 17-7 while going 3-3 in Big 12 play. This will be the second meeting between the two teams this year. In the first meeting, Texas defeated Nebraska, 5-2.

If the Huskers win Friday’s match, they will play the winner of the No. 2 seed Texas A&M and the No. 7 seed Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon. The tournament championship is on Sunday at 1 p.m. The winner of the Big 12 Tournament will automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Big 12 Links
Live stats will be provided for the Big 12 tournament all weekend. The Big 12 is also providing a blog and has a fan central page for all the up to date information. The links will be provided on the top of the page.

Scouting the Texas Longhorns
Texas enters the Big 12 Championships, ranked No. 14 in the nation. The Longhorns finished the regular season with a record of 17-7 while going 3-3 in Big 12 play. In Texas’ last match, the Longhorns were defeated by Texas A&M, 5-2. The Longhorns have three players ranked, which include No. 33 Ed Corrie, No. 45 Kellen Damico, and No. 115 Jean Anderson. Texas is coached by Michael Center, who is in his 11th season as head coach.

Earlier this Season with the Longhorns
On April 17, the Huskers traveled to Austin, Texas, to face the Longhorns and were defeated, 5-2. The Huskers started out the match winning the doubles point when they won two of the three doubles matches, but the Huskers were only able to win one singles match. The victory was at the No. 4 spot when Benedikt Lindheim defeated Texas’ Ben Chen, 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (2).

In Latest Rankings, Huskers Drop a Spot to No. 39
In the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released on April 26, the Huskers dropped a spot to No. 39. Nebraska is one of six Big 12 teams that are ranked in the ITA top 50. The other five teams include: No. 5 Baylor, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 14 Texas, No. 21 Texas Tech and No. 25 Oklahoma.

The Huskers have one player ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings, as the junior is No. 76 Christopher Aumueller. Last week, Aumueller was ranked No. 68, but fell eight spots after losing both his matches this past weekend. The Huskers also have three pairs ranked in doubles play. The teams ranked are the tandems of Aumueller and Andre Stenger (No. 52), Aumueller and Benedikt Lindhiem (No. 54) and Lindheim and Calin Paar (No.89).

NU in the Rankings
Date     Ranking
1/5         #42

1/25      #41

2/3        #37

2/8        #40

2/14      #41

2/22      #41
3/2        #32

3/8        #31

3/15      #36

3/22      #41

3/29      #39

4/5        #37

4/12      #38

4/19      #38

4/26      #39

 

Last Week: Huskers Go 0-2 at Home
The No. 38 Nebraska Cornhuskers lost their first match of the weekend to No. 26 Oklahoma Friday afternoon, 5-2.
 
The match started with the Huskers winning the doubles point when they won two of the three doubles matches. The match that clinched the point for the Huskers was on court three, when NU’s duo of Taylor Boney and Robert Schulze defeated OU’s Lawrence Formentera and Laurentiu Gavrila in a tiebreaker, 9-7 (3).
 

In singles play, the Huskers were able to pick up two matches, but OU won four matches thus clinching the match for the Sooners.

 

On the No. 1 court, OU’s Ionut Belelu knocked off NU’s Christopher Aumueller in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. At the No. 2 spot, Nebraska’s Calin Paar defeated Costin Paval, 7-2 (4), 2-6, 1-0 (10-2). Oklahoma’s Laurentiu Gavrila defeated Nebraska’s Benedikt Lindheim, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), on court three.

 

On court four, Oklahoma’s Peerakit Siributwong was victorious over Nebraska’s Andre Stenger, 6-3, 7-5. On court five, OU’s Lawrence Formentera knocked off Sebastian Florczyk, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. At the No. 6 spot, Oklahoma’s Tsvetan Mihov got the better of NU’s Tom Blackwell, 6-4, 6-1.

 

In the second match of the weekend, the Huskers were defeated by Texas Tech, 4-3.

Nebraska’s No. 68 Christopher Aumueller was up in the third set, 4-1, 40-love at No. 1 singles, but Texas Tech’s No. 24 Raony Carvalho fought back and ended up winning the match, 6-7 (10-8), 6-3, 7-5.

The Huskers started off the match winning the doubles point when they won two of the three matches. On court No. 2 the Huskers’ duo of Calin Paar and Benedikt Lindheim defeated Texas Tech’s team of Carvalho and Gabriel Wanderley, 8-6. The second match Nebraska won was on court No. 3 when NU’s duo of Robert Schulze and Taylor Boney was victorious over the Red Raiders’ David Gonzalez and Raphael Pfister, 8-4.

 

At the No. 2 singles spot, Texas Tech’s Gonzalo Escobar got the better of NU’s Calin Paar in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. At the No. 3 spot, NU’s Lindheim was victorious over Texas Tech’s Vitor Manzini, 7-6 (10-8), 6-1. The Huskers also gained a point at the No. 4 spot when Andre Stenger downed the Red Raiders’ Gabriel Wanderley in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Raphael Pfister of Texas Tech downed NU’s Sebastian Florczyk at the No. 5 spot, 6-1, 7-5. At the No. 6 spot, Texas Tech’s Ryan Ybarra was victorious over the Huskers’ Robert Schulze, 6-4, 6-3.