Men’s Tennis
This weekend, Nebraska men’s tennis competed at the FGCU Bonita Bay Classic in Fort Myers, Florida for the last tournament of their fall season.
The tournament commenced on Friday afternoon when the Huskers took on the hosts, Florida Gulf Coast.
In doubles play, graduate student William Gleason and junior Nic Wiedenhorn teamed up for a successful weekend. The duo started with a win over FGCU’s Marcelo Sepulveda and Magnus Johnson, 6-3. They then defeated Memphis’ pairing, 6-4, on the next day of play. Their run came to an end on Sunday morning with a loss at the hands of Virginia Tech’s Jordan Chrysostom and Matt Harper, 6-1.
The other doubles duos didn’t see the same success as neither team won their first round matchup. Sophomore Lars Johann and sophomore Calvin Mueller fell to FGCU’s Max Damm and Randy Wilson, 6-4, whilst senior Shunya Maruyama and junior Rudi Christiansen squandered a close one to another team of Eagles, Eric Oncins and Guglielmo Stefanacci, 7-6 (5).
On Saturday, Johann and Maruyama teamed up, but they lost their first match to Memphis’ Pablo Alemany Malea and Pau Fanlo, 6-4. On Sunday, the duo grabbed Nebraska’s third and final doubles win of the weekend with a 6-2 victory over Virginia Tech’s Ryan Fishback and Frank Thompson.
In singles play, Nebraska grabbed seven total wins throughout the weekend. Christiansen was the star of the group, as he was the only Husker to go undefeated (3-0) in the tournament.
Christiansen won his first round matchup on Friday over Oncins, 6-4, 6-3. He then cruised past Memphis’ Sam Edgar, 6-2, 6-0 on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning, he took down the aforementioned Harper, 7-5, 6-3.
Johann, Gleason, Maruyama and Wiedenhorn each picked up one win this weekend. Johann, Gleason and Maruyama all took theirs on Friday night against FGCU. Johann knocked off Sepulveda, 6-3, 6-3, Gleason defeated Damm, 6-2, 6-0 and Maruyama fought till the end for a win over Wilson, 7-5, 3-6 (10-4).
Mueller had just one match on the weekend which he lost to Johnson, 7-6 (four point tiebreaker), 6-1. Johnson is ranked No. 123 nationally in singles play.
Wiedenhorn grabbed his lone win on Sunday when the Huskers took on the Hokies. He took down Chrysostom, 6-1, 7-6 (4), to finish an overall positive tournament — and fall season — for the Huskers.
Rifle
The No. 6-ranked Nebraska rifle team traveled all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska to compete against the No. 4 Fairbanks Nanooks on Saturday. The Huskers fell short with a score of 4,738-4,714 but secured their second-highest final score in program history. With 4,714 points, Nebraska also finished a mere three points shy of its program record set just three weeks ago and was able to replace one of its qualifying scores for the NCAA Championship Tournament, which will take place in the first week of February.
Two Huskers finished in the top five during Saturday’s match — freshman Vittoria Watts and junior All-American Cecelia Ossi. Watts placed fifth with a total score of 1,178 and Ossi placed third overall with a total score of 1,184. Both showed great promise for Nebraska’s upcoming competitions against solid opponents.
In smallbore, Ossi finished with a score of 588, which was good enough for third place. Junior Madelynn Erickson placed seventh with a score of 585, and sophomore Mackenzie Strauch placed tenth with a score of 583, handing them all a top ten finish.
In air rifle, both Ossi and Watts finished in the top five. Ossi obtained another third-place finish with a score of 596 while. Watts finished fifth with a score of 595. Though the Huskers had a few top five finishes, it was not enough to defeat a strong Alaska Nanooks team. The Huskers move to 4-3 on the season with the loss.
Disclaimer: Sunday’s results were not final at the time of this story’s publication
Bowling
The Nebraska Bowling team competed at the Motiv Ladyjack Classic in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the weekend. After the three day, 14 team tournament, the Huskers went 8-5.
Nebraska had three bowlers finish in the top 30 in the individual portion of the tournament. Freshman Jillian Martin was the top finisher for the Huskers as she finished fifth place with a pinfall average of 227.2. This was after placing sixth in the previous tournament with a pinfall average of 216.2. The other two top finishers for Nebraska were senior Kendyl Hofmeister, finishing 21st with a pinfall average of 211.6, and senior Crystal Elliott, finishing 28th with a pinfall average of 202.6.
No. 3 Nebraska competed in five matches in each of the first two days of the tournament. Nebraska went 2-3 the first day, defeating No. 25 Newman and Carthage College but losing to No. 1 McKendree, No. 15 Maryville and No. 6 Arkansas State. On the second day of action, the Huskers defeated North Central College, Marian, and No. 9 Youngstown State but lost very close matches to No. 4 SFA and No. 2 Vanderbilt. On the third and final day of the tournament, Nebraska swept the three games they played in against Wisconsin-Whitewater, Valparaiso and Lewis University.
Nebraska will have some time off before they get back in action in January.