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Nebraska
No. 3 Men's Tennis tops Nebraska, 5-2, claims Big 12 title
04.25.2010 | Men's Tennis
April 25, 2010
LINCOLN, Neb. -- No. 3 Texas (23-2, 6-0 Big 12) claimed a tight doubles point and won four of six singles matches to post a 5-2 win over host Nebraska and nail down its sixth Big 12 regular-season championship.
The Longhorns went unbeaten in conference play for the first time since 1999 and the first time in head coach Michael Center's 10-year tenure at Texas. Center chalks up his third Big 12 Conference regular-season title and his first since 2008. Texas navigated through a rigorous conference slate and went unblemished in six league contests, including three matches against ITA top-15 opponents - No. 9 Baylor, No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 13 Texas Tech - in addition to No. 21 Oklahoma.
Playing at Nebraska's indoor facility, the Longhorns took the doubles point, but not without a fight from the Cornhuskers. UT's Jean Andersen and Vasko Mladenov opened with an 8-4 win at third doubles over Benedikt Lindheim and Andre Stenger. Nebraska answered with a win at first doubles, where the Huskers' 64th-ranked tandem of Calin Paar and David Bendheim edged UT's Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala, 8-6.
The last match at second doubles featuring UT's Ed Corrie and Jon Wiegand against Nebraska's Francois Van Impe and Christopher Aumueller progressed into a tiebreaker. The Huskers held a 4-2 lead before UT rallied and put away the match by a 7-5 count to nail down the doubles point.
Kutrovsky staked UT to a 2-0 lead when he finished off NU's 77th-ranked Aumueller by a 6-2, 6-3 count at first singles. The Huskers rallied and evened the match behind victories at the third and sixth singles positions, but the Longhorns seized control from there and closed out the match.
At fifth singles, UT's Mladenov took the first set off of Nebraska's Lindheim, 6-3, and at 4-all in the second set, Mladenov broke Lindheim and served out the following game to take the set, 6-4 and give Texas a 3-2 lead.
UT's Zavala, who clinched Texas' victory over Texas A&M last Wednesday evening, came through to clinch one more for the Longhorns, as he knocked off NU's Van Impe by a 6-4, 6-4 count at fourth singles to give Texas an insurmountable 4-2 lead. Texas' Corrie finished off the match by putting away NU's 74th-ranked Paar in a third-set match tiebreak 10-7.
Texas has earned a first-round bye in the upcoming Big 12 Championships it hosts later this week at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The event's three first-round matches will be played Friday, April 30 at Penick-Allison. UT will compete in the semifinals on Saturday, May 1 against the winner of Friday's match pitting the fourth seed against the fifth seed. The Big 12 Conference will release the tournament draw later this evening.
No. 3 Texas 5, Nebraska 2
Nebraska Tennis Center (indoors)
Doubles - Order of Finish - 3, 1, 2
1. #64 Calin Paar/David Bendheim (NU) def. #6 Dimitar Kutrovsky/Josh Zavala (UT) 8-6
2. Ed Corrie/Jon Wiegand (UT) def. Francois Van Impe/Christopher Aumueller (NU) 9-8 (5)
3. Jean Andersen/Vasko Mladenov (UT) def. Benedikt Lindheim/Andre Stenger (NU) 8-4
Singles - Order of Finish: 1, 3, 6, 5, 4, 2
1. #11 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #77 Christopher Aumueller (NU) 6-2, 6-3
2. #21 Ed Corrie (UT) def. #74 Calin Paar (NU) 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (7)
3. David Bendheim (NU) def. Jean Andersen (UT) 6-3, 6-4
4. #96 Josh Zavala (UT) def. Francois Van Impe (NU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Vasko Mladenov (UT) def. Benedikt Lindheim (NU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Andre Stenger (NU) def. Daniel Whitehead (UT) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On going undefeated in conference play: I knew coming in to the conference season that it would be tough to win the title this year with so many good teams in the league. I certainly thought it would be difficult to go through league play undefeated. It's a great accomplishment. We've won a couple of conference titles, but this was the first time we went undefeated since I've been here. I thought it was a significant accomplishment for this team, to close out conference play undefeated
On the doubles session: The doubles matches were tight. We won at No. 3, and we lost one break at No. 1 and lost the match. There were not any breaks at No. 2. We played indoors and it was difficult to break serve. Ed and Jon were down 4-2 in the tiebreaker, but they played some very good tennis in the end. I'm really happy with the way they finished that match.
On the singles session: We knew Nebraska had a very good singles lineup. They were a couple of points from beating Texas A&M and a couple from beating Baylor. They have been in matches with everyone in singles. Dimitar got off of the court quickly, but then we lost at No. 3 and No. 6. Vasko Mladenov has matured as the season has come along, and he played some key points really well. He broke serve at 4-all and served it out really well. He put a lot of first serves into play. Josh Zavala was there to clinch, and he three aces to finish the match. Ed Corrie finished very strong. I thought it was a good team effort.
