Lexington, Ky. – The Nebraska men’s tennis team (5-1) went 1-1 at the ITA Kickoff, as the Huskers defeated Notre Dame 4-1, on Saturday, but lost to Alabama 2-4 on Friday.
The Big Red faced Alabama to start the ITA Kickoff Weekend, hosted by the University of Kentucky. Alabama ended the 2022-23 season at No. 49 in the ITA rankings. In doubles, No. 1 duo Anton Shepp and Nic Wiedenhorn had a clean 6-3 win over Enzo Aguiard and Zach Foster. Second to finish was Leo Linquet and Shunya Maruyama, falling on Court Three, 3-6. At No. 2 doubles, Calvin Mueller and Lars Johann took on No. 25 ranked Alabama duo Filip Planinsek and Andrii Zimnokh. Mueller and Johann kept the match tight, but fell in the tiebreak, 6(5)-7. UA took the doubles point.
In singles, Maruyama made quick work of Zach Foster, taking the No. 4 singles win 6-0, 6-3. Shepp upset Alabama’s #51 Enza Aguiard on Court Two, winning 7-5, 6-2. In the No. 1 singles slot, Mueller took on #35 Filip Planinsek, and fell 5-7, 2-6. With the match tied 2-2, Johann was the next to finish on Court Three. Johann gave #76 Matias Ponce De Leon a run for his money, pushing their match to three sets and a set tiebreak, but ultimately lost 7-5, 3-6, 6(3)-7. Linquet was defeated by Andrii Zimnokh in the No. 5 singles slot, 6(4)-7, 3-6, giving Alabama its fourth point. Wiedenhorn’s match went unfinished on Court Six, leaving the score at 7-6(4), 4-4. Nebraska’s all-time record against Alabama fell to 1-2 after the 4-2 win from the Crimson Tide.
In the consolation matchup, NU took on Notre Dame. In doubles, Shepp and Wiedenhorn could not keep up with Notre Dame’s Sebastian Dominko and Jean-Marc Malkowski, dropping the match 1-6. On Court Two, Mueller and Johann defeated Evan Lee and Chase Thompson to tie the doubles point. No. 3 doubles duo Linquet and Mauryama secured the Huskers double point with a 7-5 win over Nil Giraldez and Yu Zhang.
Maruyama once again was the first singles win for the Big Red, defeating Jean-Marc Malkowski 6-2, 7-6(3) on Court Four. Next to finish was Mueller, falling to #65 Sebastian Dominko 6(4)-7, 4-6. No. 3 singles Johann defeated Giraldez 6-4, 7-5. On Court Two, Shepp defeated Thompson in three sets, taking the winning point for NU with his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win. Linquet and Wiedenhorn left their matches unfinished on Courts Five and Six respectively.
In their first ever matchup, the Big Red beat the Fighting Irish 4-2, improving to 5-1 on the season, the best start since 2018.
