Huskers Set for Showdowns with Bears, Sooners

No. 2 Baylor Bears at Nebraska Cornhuskers 
Thursday, Jan. 20 at 5:00 p.m. CT
Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center (Lincoln, Neb.)
Live Stream: https://huskers.com/sports/2019/1/28/211695063.aspx?id=2120

Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/nebraska/mtennis/xlive.htm

Nebraska Cornhuskers @ No. 24 Oklahoma Sooners

Sunday, Jan. 23 at 1:00 p.m. CT

Headington Family Tennis Center (Norman, Okla.)

The Nebraska men’s tennis team will continue its 2022 spring season with a home and away matchup, as the Huskers play host to Baylor on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. CT at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center before traveling to Oklahoma shortly after on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT to take on the Sooners.

 

Live streams and stats are available in the links provided above. Updates will be posted to Huskers.com and @HuskerMTennis on Twitter.

 

Scouting Baylor

• The Bears finished the 2020-21 season with a 34-5 overall record, including a 4-1 mark in Big 12 play.

• Baylor had its first three matches of the 2022 season canceled due to COVID issues. They will open the season against the Creighton Bluejays on Jan. 19 before taking on the Huskers the following day.

• They enter this matchup as the No. 2 team in the country according to the ITA Rankings and were voted the preseason favorite in the Big 12 conference.

• The Bears have two singles competitors ranked in the ITA rankings: Sven Lah (No. 48) and Tadeas Paroulek (No. 87). They also have a doubles pair ranked in the top 20: Fin Bass and Lah (No. 18).

• Baylor returns five players from its roster last year along with the reigning Head Coach of the Year, Michael Woodson, and Assistant Coach of the Year, Izak Van der Merwe.

 

Scouting Oklahoma

• The Sooners began its 2022 season with three wins over the weekend against Incarnate Word, Bryant and Purdue. 

• In the fall, Jordan Hasson captured the singles title at the ITA Regional Championships. Welsh Hotard and Alex Martinez won the doubles title at the Big 6 Invite in the fall after finishing 3-0 in the main draw.

• Oklahoma has three singles competitors ranked in the top 55 of the ITA rankings: Mason Beiler (No. 31), Mark Mandlik (No. 46), Jordan Hasson (No. 54). As a team, they are ranked No. 24 in the nation.

• The Sooners will travel to Oxford, Miss., for the ITA Kickoff Weekend Tournament beginning on Jan. 29 following their match with the Huskers.

 

Series History

• Nebraska is 1-22 all-time against the Baylor Bears, with its lone victory coming on Feb. 11, 1996 in Waco, Texas.

• This will mark the third year in a row the Huskers and Bears will meet during the regular season.

• Against the Oklahoma Sooners, Nebraska is 6-18 all-time with its last victory coming on March 30, 2007.

 

Up Next

• The Huskers will host Drake at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center on Jan. 29 at 4:00 p.m. CT.

 

Huskers Start off 2022 Strong

• Nebraska won its first match of the 2022 season over the Creighton Bluejays last Saturday at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center, 7-0. The Huskers swept all singles matches and dropped only one doubles match en route to victory. They remain unbeaten against the Bluejays all-time with a 20-0 record.

Huskers Return Plenty of Experience to Lineup

• Junior Shunya Maruyama led the Huskers in singles wins last season with eight, competing in the No. 1 spot five times. He also led the Big Red with seven doubles wins with multiple different partners. Senior William Gleason advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA Regionals this fall, making the round of 8 to set the tone for the new year.

• Tied for the most matches last season was Victor Moreno Lozano who finished with 20 singles matches in 2021. Along with graduate transfer Dario Huber, Moreno advanced to the ITA National Championships for doubles play after making the semifinals in the ITA Regionals.

• Senior Patrick Cacciatore and sophomore Nic Wiedenhorn also add some depth to this newly-shaped Husker squad, combining for nine singles wins last season. 

 

Huskers Welcome Two Transfers

• Huber joins the Huskers after competing for Fresno State and Indianapolis during his first four seasons. Dario and his partner won the 2019 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup, and that same year they held the No. 1 ranking nationally in Division II. He was a Division II All-American in both singles and doubles in the 2019-2020 season.

• Rudra Dixit comes to Nebraska after spending his freshman season at Iowa. Dixit enters with plenty of talent out of high school, including a 16-and-under Missouri Valley top-10 ranking, an 18-and-under Missouri Valley top-3 ranking and an 18-and-under USTA top-125 national ranking.

 

Three Freshmen Join Nebraska

• Two of the three newcomers come out of Germany in the form of Lars Johann and Calvin Mueller. Currently Johann is ranked No. 102 in the men’s German standings and has a career best ranking at No. 2 in the German U16. He also reached as high as No. 4 in the U18 German ranking. Mueller held an U18 top-10 German national ranking and has reached as high as No. 105 in the men’s German rankings.

• Roni Hietaranta, a native of Lappeenranta, Finland, has won four singles and four doubles ITF Junior Tournament titles. In 2018, Hieteranta took both the singles and doubles titles at the Under-21 Finnish Championships.