Thursday, 04/26/2012

EVANSTON, Ill. – The ninth-seeded Nebraska men’s tennis team got revenge on Wednesday afternoon at the Big Ten Tournament as they defeated the eight-seeded Wisconsin Badgers, 4-0. The Huskers record improves to 11-14 on the year. Nebraska is 3-8 in Big Ten action. Wisconsin now stands at 12-12.

The Huskers started out the match winning the doubles point to take an early lead.

The Huskers doubles team of Andre Stenger and Eric Sock were victorious on court No. 1 when they downed Wisconsin’s Billy Bertha and Fredrik Ask, 8-6. Nebraska’s second team to win in doubles play was the duo of Benedikt Lindheim and Robert Schulze, who downed the Badgers team of Alexander Kostanov and Quinton Vega, 8-5.

The Huskers kept the momentum going in singles play and won the first three points to clinch the match.

On court No. 1, NU’s Christopher Aumueller downed Wisconsin’s Ask in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Lindheim was playing at the No. 2 spot in the Huskers lineup and downed Rod Carey, 6-2, 6-1. Winning the fourth and match clinching point for the Huskers was Andre Stenger on court No. 4. Stenger defeated Wisconsin’s Quinton Vega in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

After the match, Nebraska head coach Kerry McDermott said he was confident that the Huskers could win the match if they could get out to a fast start by winning the doubles point.

“We knew going into the match that if we won the doubles point, that we’d be the favorite team to win,” McDermott said. “A big difference for our team today was the fact that their singles lineup got protested in the coach’s call, so they had to move some players up higher in the lineup, unlike when they played us last week in Lincoln. Basically, they had to play their singles lineup in order of strength and once that got protested, I told the team we were playing on the same level and that was the difference today.

“As a team, they struggled with the wind and had control problems. Our guys are good outdoors so that was a big plus for us today. I thought our guys stepped up today and competed hard. There were no excuses from the guys and we took it to them. I’m excited to play Ohio State tomorrow and see if we can make some things happen. It was a good win for our guys. They really competed.”

The Huskers will be back in action tomorrow as they play in the quarterfinals against the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes. First serve is set for 9:30 a.m.

Singles

1. #76 Chris Aumueller (NEB) def. Fredrik Ask (WISC) 6-2, 6-2
2. Benedikt Lindheim (NEB) def. Rod Carey (WISC) 6-2, 6-1
3. Petr Satral (WISC) vs. Robert Schulze (NEB) 6-1, 5-2, unfinished
4. Andre Stenger (NEB) def. Quinton Vega (WISC) 6-3, 6-3
5. Alexander Kostanov (WISC) vs. Tom Blackwell (NEB) 2-6, 5-2, unfinished
6. Billy Bertha (WISC) vs. Eric Sock (NEB) 6-1, 4-1, unfinished

Doubles

1. #72 Andre Stenger/Eric Sock (NEB) def. #34 Billy Bertha/Fredrik Ask (WISC) 8-6
2. Benedikt Lindheim/Robert Schulze (NEB) def. Alexander Kostanov/Quinton Vega (WISC) 8-5
3. Rod Carey/Petr Satral (WISC) def. Chris Aumueller/Stefan Gollner (NEB) 8-6