Lincoln, Neb. – The Nebraska men’s tennis team will kick off the 2023 spring season as the Huskers host Creighton on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center. Live stream and stats will be available on huskers.com, and updates will be posted on @HuskerMTennis on Twitter.
Scouting Creighton
• The Bluejays finished the 2021-22 season with an 8-10 overall record, including a 1-3 mark in Big East play.
• This season is Head Coach Tom Lilly’s 26th season at the helm of both the Creighton men’s and women’s programs. Coach Lilly currently has 498 career victories.
• Creighton has a balanced roster with three freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors and three graduate students.
Series History
• Nebraska is 20-0 all-time against the Jayhawks, with NU’s last victory coming on Jan. 15, 2022, in Lincoln. The first meeting between the teams occurred in 1993 at home with the Huskers winning, 6-1.
Up Next
• The Huskers will travel to Clemson, S.C., for a pair of matches, as the team faces South Alabama on Saturday, Jan. 28 and Clemson on Sunday, Jan. 29.
Quick Notes
• Last season, the Huskers tallied three-straight Big Ten victories, the first time since the team accomplished the feat in its first season as a conference member (2011-12).
• NU also secured its first five-win conference season since joining the Big Ten and just their third five-win season in program history.
Kobelt Named Husker Assistant Coach
• Nebraska Men’s Tennis Head Coach Sean Maymi announced the hiring of Peter Kobelt as the newest member of the Nebraska coaching staff last fall. Prior to Nebraska, Kobelt served as the volunteer assistant coach at Kentucky for two seasons from 2020 to 2022. He was responsible for implementing the doubles strategy and on-court fitness for the entire team and coached the No. 1 ranked ITA player, Liam Draxl, through the semifinals matches at the 2021 NCAA Men’s singles competition. Kobelt also had the responsibility of leading team practice and handling recruiting logistics, while helping the Wildcat team reach the 2022 NCAA finals and a No. 7 national ranking.
Huskers Welcome Two Transfers
• The Nebraska men’s tennis team bolstered its ranks with the addition of transfers Rudi Christiansen and Ilarion Danilchenko for the 2022-23 season.
• Christiansen, a native of Heilbronn, Germany, spent the last two seasons at Alabama and saw action in multiple singles and doubles matches. He recorded 16 singles wins and had doubles victories at the MSU Bulldog and UCF Invitationals. In his junior career, Christiansen was ranked in the top five among juniors in Germany and had wins over four top 30 ITF players.
• Joining Christiansen for the 2022-23 season is Miami transfer, Danilchenko. The native of Moscow, Russia recorded three singles and four doubles victories in the fall season before enrolling at Nebraska. Before college, Danilchenko was active on the ITF circuit as he holds a career-high ranking of No. 97. He won three G4 singles titles, including the G4 Yerevan President Cup, the St. Petersburg Governor Cup and the Asuncion Pascuas Bowl.
Huskers Receive ITA Central Regional Award
• The Nebraska men’s tennis team was awarded the ITA Central Regional Community Service Award, as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The Community Service award honors a team that gives back to its campus and community through tennis and non-tennis pathways.
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