The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Nebraska
No. 11 Men's Tennis holds off Nebraska, 5-2
04.17.2011 | Men's Tennis
April 17, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas - No. 11 Texas (17-6, 3-2 Big 12) dropped the doubles point but rallied behind five singles wins to claim a 5-2 victory over No. 38 Nebraska (15-9, 1-3 Big 12) on Senior Day at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Nebraska opened the match by taking two of three matches to win the doubles point. UT's 38th-ranked tandem of Kellen Damico and David Holiner opened with an 8-1 win over NU's Benedikt Lindheim and Calin Paar at second doubles. The Huskers struck back at third doubles, where Sebastian Florczyk and Robert Schulze dealt UT's Chris Camillone and Daniel Whitehead an 8-2 defeat.
At first doubles, Nebraska's Christopher Aumueller and Andre Stenger took a 7-4 lead on UT's Jean Andersen and Ed Corrie before the Texas tandem held serve, broke Nebraska's serve and held once more to even the match at seven. The match progressed to a tiebreaker, where UT assumed an early 4-2 lead. At 5-all, UT's Corrie served up an ace to set up match point for Texas. But, Nebraska claimed the next three points to win the tiebreaker, 8-6 and seal the doubles point for the Huskers.
Texas evened the match at third singles with a win from Andersen, who took the first set off of NU's Stenger, 6-4. Andersen broke Stenger's serve and took a 4-2 lead in set two and claimed the remaining two games to take the set, 6-2 and even the match. UT's Damico took the first set off of Nebraska's Aumueller at first singles, 6-4 and held a 5-2 lead in the second set before Aumueller closed within 5-4. But, Damico took the final game to win the match and stake Texas to a 2-1 lead.
Moments later, UT added a win from sophomore Vasko Mladenov to assume a 3-1 lead. Mladenov broke NU's Florczyk midway through the first set at fifth singles and took the opening set, 6-4. Mladenov held a 5-2 lead in the second set before Florczyk battled back to even the set and force a tiebreaker. Mladenov prevailed in the tiebreaker, 7-5 to push Texas within one point of victory.
Nebraska's Lindheim took the first set off of UT's Ben Chen at fourth singles, 6-1 before Chen returned the favor and posted a 6-1 second-set win. The third set progressed to a tiebreaker, where Lindheim prevailed, 7-2 to pull the Huskers within 3-2. The Horns would pick up the match-clinching point from Whitehead at sixth singles.
Whitehead took the first set off of NU's Tom Blackwell, 6-4, but Blackwell registered a key service break late in the second set before pulling away to a 7-5 second-set win. Whitehead broke Blackwell's serve early on in set three and held on to win the set, 6-3 to give Texas its fourth and decisive point.
Texas' Corrie joined his classmate Damico in picking up a singles win on Senior Day. Corrie dropped the first set off of NU's Paar at second singles, 6-4 before returning the favor in set two. Corrie and Paar engaged in a lengthy third set where Corrie prevailed, 6-4 to give Texas the match's final point.
Texas finishes up the regular season on Saturday, April 23 when it takes on Texas A&M in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Central at Texas A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
"We got into a hole after doubles. We had a chance to win the doubles point and got to match point, but before you knew it, Nebraska had won it and it was over. It became a bit of a roller coaster at that point. We won four first sets in singles, and we were gaining control of the matches where we lost first sets, and Nebraska fought back again. Ben Chen lost a tough match again after being up a break in the third, and then Daniel Whitehead got us the clinching point in the end. I'm happy for my seniors, Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico, to see them win on Senior Day. I give credit to Nebraska. That's a good team that did a nice job today."
#11 Texas 5, #38 Nebraska 2
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 Christopher Aumueller/Andre Stenger (NU) def. #6 Jean Andersen/Ed Corrie (UT) - 9-8 (6)
2 #38 Kellen Damico/David Holiner (UT) def. Benedikt Lindheim/Calin Paar (NU) - 8-1
3 Sebastian Florczyk/Robert Schulze (NU) def. Chris Camillone/Daniel Whitehead (UT) - 8-2
Singles - Order of Finish: 3, 1, 5, 4, 6, 2
1 #49 Kellen Damico (UT) def. Christopher Aumueller (NU) - 6-4, 6-4
2 #33 Ed Corrie (UT) def. Calin Paar (NU) - 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
3 #107 Jean Andersen (UT) def. Andre Stenger (NU) - 6-4, 6-2
4 Benedikt Lindheim (NU) def. Ben Chen (UT) - 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (2)
5 Vasko Mladenov (UT) def. Sebastian Florczyk (NU) - 6-4, 7-6 (5)
6 #122 Daniel Whitehead (UT) def. Tom Blackwell (NU) - 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
