The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 12 Men's Tennis knocks off Nebraska, 5-2
04.22.2007 | Men's Tennis
AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 12 Texas (16-7, 4-2 Big 12) swept doubles play and claimed four of six singles matches to defeat No. 67 Nebraska (8-10, 2-4) by a 5-2 count Sunday afternoon at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
The win ensures that Texas will finish no lower than second place in the final Big 12 standings. Whether the Longhorns share second place depends on the outcome of Tuesday's match pitting Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. An OU victory would give Texas sole possession of second place and the No. 2 seed at the Big 12 Championships.
"It was a good win for us today," said UT coach Michael Center. "We played well against a team that had a lot of confidence after beating Texas A&M on Friday. We found a way to win, but we need to play even better next week (at the Big 12 Championships)."
Texas swept doubles play to claim the doubles point. The Longhorns opened the doubles session with an 8-2 victory at the second slot from sophomore Miguel Reyes Varela (Cocoyoc, Mexico) and freshman Jon Wiegand (San Antonio, Texas) over Nebraska's David Bendheim and Francois Van Impe.
UT nailed down the doubles point at the third slot when juniors Bernhard Deussner (Vienna, Austria) and Luis Diaz Barriga (Cordoba, Mexico) dealt the Huskers' Renato Melo and Mark Tate an 8-3 defeat. The Longhorns completed the doubles sweep as the 28th-ranked freshman duo of Dimitar Kutrovsky (Sofia, Bulgaria) and Josh Zavala (Amarillo, Texas) defeated James Clow and Adrian Szatmary by an 8-4 count at first singles.
Nebraska got on the board when UT's Reyes Varela retired at second singles after dropping the first set in a tiebreaker to NU's Bendheim. Texas junior Milan Mihailovic (Nis, Serbia) regained the lead for the Longhorns with a quick 6-2, 6-1 win at fourth singles over the Huskers' James Clow.
Nebraska evened the match once more when Van Impe posted a 6-4, 6-4 win at the sixth slot over UT freshman Rook Schellenberg (Dallas, Texas). However, Texas struck back minutes later when Diaz Barriga extended his winning streak to 17 matches with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hendrik Stahmer at third singles to lift Texas into a 3-2 lead.
Texas' Kutrovsky and Nebraska's Szatmary engaged in a well-played match at first singles that ultimately resulted in the clinching point for the Longhorns. Kutrovsky dropped the first set but rebounded to claim the second set, 6-3. Leading 5-4 in the third set, Kutrovsky held serve to get the win and clinch the team victory for Texas.
Zavala put the finishing touches on the Longhorns' victory by holding off Renato Melo at fifth singles, 7-5, 7-6 (2).
The Big 12 Championships are set for April 27-29 at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City, Mo. Texas will play on Friday, April 27, though the opponent and start time will not be finalized until Wednesday, April 25.
No. 12 Texas 5, No. 67 Nebraska 2
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1. No. 28 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Clow/Szatmary (NU) - 8-4
2. Reyes Varela/Wiegand (UT) def. Bendheim/Van Impe (NU) - 8-2
3. Deussner/Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Melo/Tate (NU) - 8-3
Singles - Order of Finish: 2, 4, 6, 3, 1, 5
1. No. 88 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. Adrian Szatmary (NU) - 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. David Bendheim (NU) def. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) - 7-6 (3), ret.
3. Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Hendrik Stahmer (NU) - 6-3, 6-2
4. Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. James Clow (NU) - 6-2, 6-1
5. Josh Zavala (UT) def. Renato Melo (NU) - 7-5, 7-6 (2)
6. Francois Van Impe (NU) def. Rook Schellenberg (UT) - 6-4, 6-4
