Huskers Head to Illinois for Pair of Top-30 Matches

The No. 45 ranked Nebraska men’s tennis team (12-7, 4-2 Big Ten) heads to Illinois for a pair of matches against No. 23 Northwestern on Friday, April 14, at 6 p.m. CT in Evanston, and against No. 26 Illinois on Sunday, April 16, at 12 p.m. CT in Urbana-Champaign. Live stats will be available on Huskers.com, and updates will be posted on @HuskerMTennis on Twitter.
 
Scouting Northwestern (15-7, 4-1 Big Ten)
• The Wildcats are coming off a 4-3 victory over in-state rival No. 23 Illinois on Sunday. This win helped Northwestern jump from No. 26 to No. 23 in this week’s ITA team rankings.
• In addition to its team ranking, Northwestern has two single players ranked, with Steven Forman coming in at No. 71 and Ivan Yatsuk at No. 111. The Wildcats also have three double pairings ranked: Simon Bratholm and Yatsuk (No. 45), Forman and Bratholm (No. 69) and Gleb Blekher and Yatsuk (No. 83).
 
Series History
Nebraska is 0-13 all-time against Northwestern, with the last matchup coming in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, which the Huskers dropped 4-0.
 
Scouting Illinois (15-9, 3-2 Big Ten)
• Illinois is 7-1 at home this season, with its only loss coming to No. 3 Ohio State.
• The Fighting Illini are scattered all over the ITA rankings, boasting the No. 50 ranked doubles duo of Karlis Ozolins and Hunter Heck, and the No. 52 ranked duo of Mathis Debru and Oliver Okonkwo.
• Ozolins is also ranked No. 46 in singles. Alex Petrov is the other Illinois ranked singles player at No. 88. 
 
Series History
Nebraska is 1-10 all-time against Illinois, with the one win coming on April 8, 2022, in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers won 4-2.
 
Huskers Continue to Sit in Top 50 of ITA Team Rankings
After defeating No. 75 Indiana and Purdue this past weekend, the Huskers jumped two spots to No. 45 in the ITA tennis rankings. This is the seventh straight week that Nebraska has been ranked inside the top 50. The highest end-of-season team ranking for Nebraska was No. 41 in the 2009-10 season.
 
Up Next
The Huskers head to Madison, Wisc., for the final match of the regular season on Saturday, April 22, at 12 p.m. Following that match, Nebraska will prepare for the Big Ten Tournament in Bloomington, Ind., from Thursday, April 27, through Sunday, April 30.