#63 Wisconsin Badgers (7-8) @ #73 Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-12)
Saturday, April 2 at 11 a.m. CT
Dillon Tennis Center (Lincoln, Neb.)
Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/nebraska/mtennis/xlive.htm
Live Video: https://huskers.com/sports/2019/1/28/211695063.aspx?id=2120
The Nebraska men’s tennis team opened conference play with a 1-1 record on the weekend, falling to No. 5 Michigan on Friday, 4-0, and then knocking off Michigan State on Sunday, 4-3. The Huskers return home for their first conference matchup of the season against Wisconsin, seeking their second conference win of the campaign.
Live streams and stats are available in the links provided above. Updates will be posted to Huskers.com and @HuskerMTennis on Twitter.
Scouting Wisconsin
• The Badgers enter Saturday’s matchup with an 7-8 record, having defeated No. 42 Oregon and Michigan State earlier in the year.
• Tim Dzhurinskiy leads Wisconsin with 10 wins during the spring while Jared Pratt has competed in the No. 1 spot for the Badgers in every match but one, holding a 3-11 record.
• Wisconsin recently announced the signing of Michael Minasyan for the 2022-23 season, who won the Swedish U-18 national championships in both singles and doubles play and holds a Universal Tennis Ranking (UTR) of 12.35.
Series History
• The Badgers hold an 11-5 advantage over the Huskers, winning the last six matches of the series. Nebraska won the four out of the first seven matches between the two teams.
• Nebraska is 1-4 at home against Wisconsin with the lone win coming March 3, 2014, where they won 7-0.
Up Next
• The Huskers stay home for a pair of conference matchups as they host No. 55 Illinois on April 8 at 5 p.m. CT. and No. 25 Northwestern on April 10 at Noon CT at the Dillon Tennis Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Hietaranta Continues Strong 2022 Campaign
• Roni Hietaranta started the year off strong, winning his first six singles matches to begin the season with a 6-0 record. Dating back to the fall, he now has 18 total singles wins which marks the most on the team thus far.
• On Jan. 25, Hietaranta was named Big Ten Co-Athlete of the Week after singles wins over Baylor and Oklahoma. He knocked off the No. 54 ranked singles competitor in the nation, defeating Oklahoma’s Jordan Hasson, 6-4, 7-5. The Lappeenranta, Finland native also defeated Baylor’s Cole Gromley in the No. 6 spot, 6-1, 6-3.
• Three weeks ago, Hietaranta rallied back from a 4-2 hole to knock off Wichita State’s Orel Ovil and clinch the victory for the Huskers. He won the singles match against Ovil 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Last weekend, he knocked off Princeton’s Filippos Astreinidis in consecutive sets to push his spring record to 7-3.
• Following a short injury stint, he returned against UCF and won in the No. 6 spot, 6-3, 6-3, to give him eight wins in the spring.
• Hietaranta followed that up with a pair of wins against Oregon and Michigan State to reach 10 spring wins, the first Husker to accomplish such feat.
Maruyama Shines In Singles and Doubles Play
• Shunya Maruyama ranks second on the Huskers with 14 wins, as he holds a 7-6 spring record. Five of his wins have come in the No. 3 and No. 6 spots.
• He has been victorious in six of his last eight completed matches, including singles victories in matches against UCF, SMU, and Michigan State.
• After leading the Huskers in wins last season, he has carried over momentum to this campaign and has been a consistent force for Nebraska.
• Dario Huber and Maruyama have won their last four doubles matches, and have not dropped a doubles match since March 12 against Cornell.
Tough Schedule
• Nebraska has matched up against seven, top 75 teams in its first 14 games to begin the spring season. They lost to No. 2 Baylor at home, 6-1, and No. 24 Oklahoma on the road, 5-2 earlier in the year.
• In the Blue-Gray National Classic, they dropped matches to both No. 29 Princeton and No. 25 Auburn. Nebraska recently lost to No. 19 Pepperdine before taking part in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championships this past weekend.
• The Huskers got their first ranked win of the season as they knocked off No. 48 UCF on the road, 4-3. They then dropped their opening conference match against a talented No. 5 Michigan team, 4-0.
• As they enter conference play, the Huskers will meet currently ranked opponents in four of their last seven games.
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