Sports
RickTownley/DN
DINKO VERZI reaches for the ball in his singles match against Baylor’s Johann Jooste on Feb. 13 at the Woods Tennis Center. Verzi lost the match 4-6,6-4,6-2. NU went on to lose to Baylor 5-2.
NU tennis teams brace for Big 12 meet
By Jake Bleed
Staff writer
Texas A&M University’s brand-new
$4.2 million varsity tennis center will
host the men’s and women’s Big 12
Conference tournaments this week in
College Station, Texas.
The women’s team will start the
action for Nebraska, meeting Kansas
State on Thursday at noon.
NU is 16-8 overall and 4-7 in the
Big 12 conference.
Seeded eighth in the tournament,
the Huskers lost to the Wildcats in
Manhattan, Kan., earlier in the season 6
3. But K-State has struggled since and
will go into Thursday’s match looking to
end a four-match losing streak. One of
those losses was to Missouri 2-7. NU
beat the Tigers in Lincoln this seaso»,8:
1.
“It’s a great chance for us to get back
at a team we lost to earlier in the season,'”
Coach Scott Jacobson>sai& " *v—.
No. 72 Nebraska^
needed resC
injuries have haunted i
currentlyj&veoiily six active players.
No. 1 singles Sandra Nbetzel,
whose 15-match winning streak stretch
es from Feb. 28, finally made it into the
National Rankings at No. 74 this week.
TherHuskers felt to Texas Tech in the
first round of last year’s tournament 5-4.
A win against K-State would pit the
Huskers against No. 1 seed Texas in the
quarterfinals. The No. 7 Longhorns are
unbeaten in conference play and edged
NU in Austin this year 54.
“Just being on the court with that
level makes us a stronger team,”
Jacobson said.
The men’s team enjoys a fourth seed
itflhe tournament, meeting Texas Tech
in the flnSt round Friday.
JTheNo. 66 Huskers are 9-11 overall
The opening match will be a repeat
of Texas Tech’s 4-0 victory in last year’s
opening round. NU edged the Red
Raiders ii! Lincoln this year 5-4 in
Lincoln. ».
* -4‘Wfe’re really anxious to play Tech,”
Coach Kerry McDermott said. “It’s
going to be a real dogfight.”
Texas Tech has since rebounded; it
is 15-8 overall, 4-4 in the Big 12 and it’s
ranked 32nd nationally. The team will
arrive in College Station on a three
game winning streak.
«
We re really anxious to play Tech. Its going to
be a real dogfight.”
Kerry McDermott
NU men’s tennis coach
“They’ve been kind of up and
down,” McDermott said. “I think our
guys feel pretty confident after the last
few weeks.”
The men’s tournament is probably
one of the toughest in the nation. Seven
of the nine teams in the tournament are
ranked nationally, including two - No. 7
Texas and No. 9 Baylor - in the top 10.
Although seeded fourth, NU is ranked
behind the fifth and sixth seeds - No. 32
Texas Tech and No. 50 Kansas. The sev
enth seed, Oklahoma, is No. 67.
If victorious in the first round,
Nebraska would face the victor ofTexas
and either Colorado or Oklahoma State.
McDermott said a win over Texas
Tech would help NU’s chances of mak
ing the NCAA tournament. With only
die top 64 teams in the nation accepted
to the tournament, McDermott said he
wanted to finish in the top fifty.
Rieke learns ropes at NU
By Jake Bleed
Staff writer
If Kai Rieke’s college career were
condensed down to a single day, it
would be about 9 a.m.
With the men’s tennis team rolling
into the Big 12 tournament at season’s
end, Rieke has had time to adjust to
collegiate tennis and think about the
future.
“I think I can play higher next
year,” Rieke said. “We all get better.”
With his first year almost done
and two more to go, the sophomore
will be integral to a successful NU
squad next year.
“Now that he’s gotten the chance
to compete, he can go pretty far,”
Coach Kerry McDermott said. “His
level will go up and it’ll force every
one else’s level to go up.”
Rieke alternated between No. 4
and 5 singles throughout the season,
also doing time on the No. 3 doubles
team. He’ll head into this week’s Big
12 tournament 11-9 on the season in
singles play.
Rieke transferred to NU after a
year of college in Germany. He said he
played with a number of his fellow
Huskers in Germany. Rieke grew up
near women’s No. 1 singles Sandra
Noetzel and even beat men’s No. 1 sin
gles Dinko Verzi in a pre-college tour
nament.
But collegiate competition in the
United States had some surprises for
Rieke. The sophomore said club
teams in Germany play about 15
matches a year, much less than the 25
plus matches an NCAA team plays in
a season. Playing every week
demands consistent playing and sta
mina, something Rieke had to learn.
Rieke said he usually won one
game a weekend, then lost the second.
“Almost every time, the second
match was so bad,” he said. “It was a
new situation for me.”
Playing on hard courts was also
new for Rieke. Prior to coming to
Nebraska, Rieke said he’s only played
on clay outside and carpet inside.
Whereas clay courts are slower than
American hard courts, carpet courts
are faster.
Rieke’s serve suffered as well,
leading to several lost service games.
More accustomed to playing the base
line than serving and volleying, Rieke
said better serves mean quicker
points. And quick points can be
important when one baseline player
meets another, leading to a long, tough
match.
“I’ve played from the baseline my
whole lifeRieke said. “You try to hit
the ball to the comer or faster or hard
er than the other guy. You force him to
make mistakes.”
But Rieke said he’s adjusted well
to the tough seasons in the NCAA. He
picked up two victories in one week
end against Oklahoma and Oklahoma
State, his serve is getting better and
hard courts don’t seem quite so for
eign.
Rieke’s improvement showed
Saturday. His victory over Texas’ Nick
Crowell was Nebraska’s only singles
victory of the match. And Crowell had
been undefeated in conference play.
Rieke won 3-6,7-5,6-0.
“That was good for Kai to show he
can play with those guys,”
McDermott said.
Experience in tough matches will
come in handy next year. With the loss
of Senior Dinko Verzi, Rieke and oth
ers will have to step up their perfor
mance. Where Lance Mills and Joige
Abos-Sanchez will most likely com
pete for the No. 1 and 2 spots, Rieke
will compete with Juan Hamdan for
the No. 3 and 4 spots.
“I think we have a lot more unity
now as a team,” Rieke said.
NU’s losing streak
continues against CU
By Josh Camenzind
Staff writer
Coming into Tuesday night’s
matchup, both Nebraska’s and
Creighton’s baseball teams were strug
gling.
The Comhuskers continued their
losing streak as they lost to the Bluejays
14-12 in front of 655 fans at Buck
Beltzer Stadium.
The game quickly turned into a
slugfest (36 hits combined) as neither
—team could
Creighton 14 pitch the ball
. ■ * a consider
Nebraska 12 abiy wen.
" ' Both teams
used six pitchers a piece and, ironically,
the designated hitter came through in
the ninth for CU with the Jays leading
14-12.
Peyton Lewis came on for the save
and struck out the final two batters he
faced. He’d played the rest of the game
as the DH, going 2 for 5 with 3 RBIs.
Lewis walked the first batter he
faced, Will Bolt, and then got Jamal
Strong to ground back to him for an out.
Lewis then walked Adam Shabala to
put runners on at first and second. Ken
Harvey came to the plate representing
the winning run. Harvey had almost
single-handedly kept NU within strik
ing distance as he had two home runs
and six RBIs already in the contest.
Lewis struck out Harvey after he
fouled off two pitches to the opposite
field.
“I knew he threw hard,” Harvey
said. “Like 92-94 (mph) and I love it
when a pitcher challenges me, so I was
hoping for a fastball, but he threw me a
slider instead.”
Lewis then disposed of Jeff
Hedman, who had four strikeouts on the
night.
The Bluejay first inning was an
omen for what was in store for the
Huskers. CU got four runs in the first
off four hits, three of which were by the
top three batters. Big innings killed the
Husker pitching staff as CU batted
around in the sixth and scored five runs.
Starting pitcher Shane Komine last
ed only one inning, throwing less than
his projected 30 pitches and giving up
four earned runs.
“Creighton has a very experienced
team in the field and we played hard,”
Head Coach Dave Van Hom said. “But
Please see BLUEJAYS on 10
