NU Travels To ITA Regionals in Fayetteville

Fayetteville, Ark. – The Nebraska men’s tennis team continues its 2022-23 fall season this weekend at the ITA Regional Championships in Arkansas, Oct. 13 – Oct. 17. The University of Arkansas will host the four-day tournament that consists of a main draw and consolation for both singles and doubles portions of the bracket. 

The entire Husker roster will be competing except for sophomore Ilarion Danilchenko. The tournament, which consists of 93 main draw singles entrants and 42 main draw doubles teams, begins Thursday morning with a variety of singles and doubles matches at Arkansas’ Billingsley Tennis Center.

Graduate student William Gleason will see his first action of the 2022 fall season as he enters his fifth year with Nebraska. Gleason posted a 10-16 singles record last season competing primarily out of the No. 5 and No. 6 spots. The Lincoln, Neb., native was also a force on the doubles court with Calvin Mueller, winning four of their last five matches to end the year. He tallied a team-high four conference victories in singles play last season and now has 62 career wins over his four-year tenure as a Husker. Gleason enters the tournament as a singles entrant and will also team with Mueller in doubles play.

Newcomer Rudi Christiansen, an Alabama transfer, makes his NU debut this weekend after joining the team over the summer. In two seasons with the Crimson Tide, he notched 16 singles wins and had doubles wins at the MSU Bulldog and UCF Invitationals in the fall. The Heilbronn, Germany native is the lone Husker this weekend to compete only in singles play.

Sophomore Lars Johann will also make his Nebraska debut at the ITA Regionals after not competing in a match last season. Before Nebraska, Johann was ranked No. 102 in the men’s German standings and had a career best ranking at No. 2 in the German U16. He also reached as high as No. 4 in the U18 German ranking. Johann was the state champion in Saarland and reached the semifinals at the U18 German championships two times. He will team with Shunya Maruyama this weekend along with his singles efforts.

Nic Wiedenhorn and Roni Hietaranta round out the field for Nebraska as the final doubles team and the last two singles competitors. Both gathered a win last weekend at the ITA All-American Tournament, while Maruyama advanced to the Round of 64 of pre-qualifying singles play. The Huskers took five of the nine matches they competed in, and all four players who traveled left the tournament with at least one win to open the season.

Stay up to date with the action by following the Nebraska men’s tennis Twitter and Instagram accounts, @huskermtennis.