Huskers Ready for Spring Season Opener

Creighton Bluejays at Nebraska Cornhuskers 
Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. CT
Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center (Lincoln, Neb.)
Live Stream: https://huskers.com/sports/2019/8/21/womens-tennis-live-video-court-1.aspx 
Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/nebraska/wtennis/xlive.htm
 
The Nebraska women’s tennis team will start its 2022 spring season at home as it hosts Creighton on Tuesday at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

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

 

Scouting Creighton 

• The Bluejays finished the 2020-21 season with a 10-6 overall record, including a 1-1 record in conference play.

• This year marks head coach Tom Lilly’s 25th season at the helm of Creighton’s women’s and men’s tennis programs. Lilly has been a part of Bluejay tennis for 32 years. 

• This year, Creighton has a roster of three freshmen, one sophomore, two juniors and four seniors.

 

Series History

• Nebraska is 19-0 all-time against the Creighton Bluejays, with its last victory coming on Feb. 1, 2020 at the Dillon Tennis Center. 

• Creighton and NU last met in 2020, when the Huskers earned a 4-0 victory at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

 

Up Next

• The Huskers will travel to No. 6 Duke on Jan. 29 at 10:00 a.m. CT, and then will travel to Ames, IA., to compete against Iowa State on Feb. 4.

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. 

 

Huskers Return Experience to Lineup

• Sophomores Kristina Novak, Chloe Kuckelman, and redshirt freshman Ellie Kuckelman led the Huskers with singles wins in their last matchup with Creighton. 

• This fall, Novak and Makoric advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles play at the ITA Regionals, while Roa advanced to the semifinals of the consolation draw.

• Chloe Kuckelman had an impressive 2021 spring season playing out of the No. 4 and No. 5 positions as she fell short in only two matches last season while finishing with 15 wins.

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.