Huskers on the Road to the ITA Kickoff

Nebraska Cornhuskers at the ITA Kickoff

Saturday, Jan. 29 – Sunday, Jan. 30

Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center (Durham, N.C.)

Live Stream: https://web.playsight.com/facility/duke-university/home 

Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/duke/wten/

 

Durham, N.C. — The Huskers travel to the ITA Kickoff classic hosted by No. 6 Duke to compete in both singles and doubles play. The classic will begin Saturday, Jan. 29 with NU facing the Blue Devils at 9 a.m. CT. On Sunday, consolation and championship matches will take place, and the Huskers will compete against No. 17 Oklahoma or Furman. 

Live stream and stats are available at the links provided above. Updates will be posted to Huskers.com and @HuskerWTennis on Twitter.

Scouting Duke 

• The Blue Devils finished the 2020-21 season with a 15-7 overall record, including a 5-3 record in conference play.

• Head coach Jamie Ashworth has been Duke’s women’s tennis coach since 1997, leading the team to 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. This is assistant head coach Michelle Dasso’s third season with the Blue Devils. 

• This year, Duke has a roster of two freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, three seniors and one graduate. 

Scouting Oklahoma

• The Sooners finished the 2020-21 season with an 18-7 overall record, including a 9-4 record in conference play.

• This will be head coach Audra Cohen’s sixth season with OU. The Sooners have recently hired a new assistant head coach, Jose Garcia, who was most recently Tulsa’s assistant head coach. 

• This year, the Sooners are in the top 25 National ITA ranking coming in at No. 17. 

Scouting Furman

• The Paladins finished the 2020-21 season with a 21-7 overall record, and going undefeated in conference play, 7-0. 

• Adam Herendeen is in his seventh season as the Paladins’ women’s tennis head coach, and head assistant coach Kylie Kuykendall is in her third season with Furman. 

Series History

• This will be the first time the Huskers face both Duke and Furman. 

• Nebraska is 8-7 overall against the Sooners, with its last matchup on March. 18, 2011 at the Dillon Tennis Center. 

Up Next

• The Huskers will travel to Iowa State on Feb. 4 at 1:00 p.m. CT, and then will return home to compete against Wichita State on Feb. 6 at 11 a.m. 

Two Freshmen Join Nebraska

• Lucy Loy, a native of Fishers, Ind., played club tennis at Indianapolis Racquet Club for Coach Jamie Dieveney and competed for Fishers High School, under Coach Dave Heffern. A four-time letterwinner, Loy received all-state honorable mention in 2018, second team all-state honors in 2019 and first team all-state honors in 2021. Loy was a regional finalist in 2019 and a state semifinalist in 2021. On the club side, Loy was a Midwest level 2 and 3 doubles winner and a level 3 singles winner.

• A native of La Crescenta, Calif., Jillian Roa was a standout player in high school where she won the singles junior ITF title in Skopje, Macedonia. She was also regional U18 Champion of the Balearic Islands and reached the singles finals in a junior ITF in La Nucia, Spain. 

Novak Claimed Slovenian Title To Close 2021 

• Novak beat Noka Juric 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the title and win the Slovenian National Championship in Medvode, Slovenia in December.

• With the championship, she wrapped up an impressive year after earning First-Team All-Big Ten honors for the 2020-21 season, while also being named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in both the fall and spring semesters.