Ray Koch
CONTRIBUTOR
The University of Nebraska at Omaha men’s tennis team (4-6) has been riding a hot streak heading into its most recent match against the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Friday. The squad’s last two matches leading up to this match were both seven to nothing sweep victories against Midland Lutheran and Doane. That’s one way to end an ugly three-match skid.
After losing three matches in a row in early February, the Mavs seemed to find their stride as of late. After a week off, the Mavericks rolled through Midland Lutheran and Doane on their way to playing UMKC Friday night in Lincoln. But on Friday night, the winning streak came to a halt.
The Mavericks lost 5-2 at the hands of UMKC. The only wins for the Mavericks came from 53rd ranked Razvan Grigorescu and Nathan Reekie. Matt Dunn, Joni Heizlsperger, Colin Buckley and Alex Woodward all were defeated. This was a tough loss for Omaha, as the hot streak the Mavs were on gave them an opportunity to get back to .500. Instead, the loss dropped them to 4-6 on the season.
In doubles tennis, Grigorescu and Buckley combined for a win, while the combos of Nathan Reekie/Matt Dunn and Alex Woodward/John Ellis both were defeated 6-4.The Mavericks get a week off before they host Central College on Friday at 3 p.m., followed by Hastings at 7 p.m. These will be two big games that could get the Mavericks back to the .500 mark for the first time since late January.
Getting wins from young guys such as Grigorescu will help the Mavericks gain some experience as the conference stretch begins. After a rough skid, the Omaha tennis team rattled off two impressive wins. Their recent loss against UMKC puts them a step back, but they will have plenty of time to figure things out. The Mavericks will surely look to get bounce back this weekend.
