NU looks to finish strong against Nittany Lions, Buckeyes

Penn State Nittany Lions (13-11) at #73 Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-14)
Friday, April 22 at 4 p.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

#2 Ohio State Buckeyes (22-2) at #73 Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-14)

Sunday, April 24 at Noon 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 No. 73 Nebraska men’s tennis team has won three of its last four games, including a weekend sweep over Purdue and Indiana this past weekend. It’s the first time since 2015 that Nebraska has won two Big Ten Conference matches in the same weekend. The last time came on March 27 & 29 with wins over Michigan State (4-3) and Michigan (4-0) at the Lincoln Racquet Club. NU is looking to finish off a historic conference stint against the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes before the start of the Big Ten Championships at the end of the month in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

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

Scouting Penn State

• The Nittany Lions enter Friday’s matchup with a 13-11 record, having won three of their last four matchups. They also boast a 3-4 conference record.

• Penn State has no players on the ITA Top-125 Singles Rankings List and no teams on the ITA Top-90 Doubles Rankings List.

• Loren Byers leads the Nittany Lions with nine singles wins on the spring, while Sam Bossem has the best winning percentage with an 8-3 record.

• In doubles, Malik Bhatnagar and Alexander Karman are 5-5 on the spring and have competed primarily in the No. 1 spot. Miko Eala and Charl Morgan have won their last four doubles matches as a duo, after dropping their first four.

Scouting Ohio State

• The Buckeyes enter Sunday’s matchup with a 22-2 record, having won their last seven matches.  They are the only undefeated Big Ten team remaining with a 7-0 conference record.

• Ohio State has five players on the ITA Top-125 Singles Rankings List: (No. 9 Cannon Kingsley, No. 10 Matej Vocel, No. 19 JJ Tracy, No. 36 James Trotter, No. 110 Jake Van Emburgh) and two teams on the ITA Top-90 Doubles Rankings List: (No. 1 Robert Cash/Matej Vocel, No. 12 Justin Boulais/James Trotter):

• They have knocked off nine, Top 25 teams this year including sweeps over No. 1 Tennessee, No. 6 Virginia, No. 6 Wake Forest and No. 10 Kentucky.

• Tracy is the only unbeaten Buckeye left with a 16-0 singles record on the spring. Vocel is 16-1 and 12-0 in the No. 2 slot, while Kingsley is 15-3 on the spring competing primarily in the top spot.

• Ohio State has won seven Big Ten Athlete of the Week awards. Vocel has four, Kingsley has two and Tracy has one.

Series History

• The Nittany Lions hold a 7-3 advantage over the Huskers; however, NU won their last meeting, 4-2. 

• Nebraska is 2-3 at the Dillon Tennis Center against Penn State, winning the first and most recent meetings in Lincoln.

• The Huskers have never beaten the Buckeyes, and this is the first time the two teams have met in Lincoln since April 5, 2019. 

Up Next

• The Huskers will travel to Madison, Wisc. as they take part in the Big Ten Championships. The tournament spans across four days (April 28 – May 1) and will use a bracket format to determine a postseason conference champion.

Weekend Notes:

• The Huskers are looking for their first five-win season in Big Ten Conference play since joining the league in 2011-12. A victory over Penn State would also guarantee Nebraska a winning conference record for the first time since 1993 (Big Eight).

• The only time Nebraska has ever won three consecutive Big Ten matches came in NU’s first season in the league (2011-12), when the Big Red opened April with three straight victories at Penn State (4-3, April 1), at Iowa (6-1, April 4) and at home against Purdue in the Nebraska Tennis Center (4-3, April 6).

• The last time Nebraska won five conference matches in a season came in 1989, when the Huskers finished second in the Big Eight with a 5-1 record with a team that featured 1989 NCAA runner-up Steven Jung.

 

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 15 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.

• He currently holds a 4-3 conference record and has victories in matches against Michigan State and Northwestern. He has a 13-6 singles record in the spring. With 21 wins spanning over the fall and spring campaigns, Hietaranta is ranked No. 23 in Nebraska history and is the first Husker over 20 wins since Toby Boyer and Linus Erhart in 2018.