OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha men's tennis team hits the road this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches. The Mavericks play Northern Illinois on Friday, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. UNO takes on Cleveland State on Saturday at 9 a.m. Both matches will be played at the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, Ill.
The Mavericks are looking to snap a three match losing streak over the weekend. Omaha is 3-4 overall and 0-1 in Summit League play. John Ellis and Alex Woodward each have a team high three wins. Matt Dunn and Brent McKnight have combined for a 3-3 doubles record this season.
Northern Illinois is 5-3 on the season and have won two straight matches. Cleveland State is 3-2 on the year and have dropped two straight matches.
UNO lost to UMKC last weekend, 7-0. UMKC got out of the gates quickly as they swept the doubles play to take a 1-0 lead. Freshmen Alex Woodward and Matt Dunn played a close match at No. 2 doubles against Uldis Gaismins and Andrey Smitnov, but fell 6-4. Erik Anderson and John Ellis lost a 6-3 decision to Amaury Navette and Marc Santamaria at No. 3 doubles.
Omaha could not gain any ground in singles action as UMKC swept all six matches. Marko Minic played a spirited match against Mike Psarros at No. 4 singles, but fell 6-3, 6-3. Anderson played a strong match at No. 5 singles before falling 6-3, 6-3. After dropping the first set, Alex Woodward made a strong push in the second set but came up short at No. 3 singles 6-1, 7-5.
At No. 2 singles, Dunn played a resilient match against Gaismins. Gaismins won the first set 6-3, but Dunn rebounded to win the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (3). To decide the set, Dunn and Gaismins played a 10-point tiebreaker. Gaismins came out with the win 10-6
The Mavericks do not play next week and return to action on Sunday, Feb. 28 against Creighton. First serve is set for 5 p.m. at Miracle Hill Tennis Center.
