The Nebraska baseball team received a preseason top 25 ranking on Monday, checking in at No. 20 in Baseball America's preseason poll.

The Huskers are coming off a regular-season Big Ten title and their first NCAA Regional Final appearance since 2007 after going 34-14 (31-12 Big Ten) in 2021.

Nebraska is the lone Big Ten team in the Top 25. Texas received the top spot in Baseball America's poll, followed by No. 2 Vanderbilt and defending national champion Mississippi State in third. No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Virginia round out the top five.

The No. 20 ranking is the second ranking in the top 25 for the Huskers this preseason. Nebraska comes in at No. 22 in the Perfect Game Preseason Poll, released earlier this month. Preseason polls from USA Today and NCBWA have yet to be released.

Nebraska opens the 2022 campaign with a three-game series at Sam Houston on Feb. 18-20 in Huntsville, Texas.

Huskers Ready for Spring Season Opener

Creighton Bluejays at Nebraska Cornhuskers 
Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. CT
Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center (Lincoln, Neb.)
Live Stream: https://huskers.com/sports/2019/8/21/womens-tennis-live-video-court-1.aspx 
Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/nebraska/wtennis/xlive.htm
 
The Nebraska women's tennis team will start its 2022 spring season at home as it hosts Creighton on Tuesday at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

Live stream and stats are available at the links provided above. Updates will be posted to Huskers.com and @HuskerWTennis on Twitter.
 
Scouting Creighton 
• The Bluejays finished the 2020-21 season with a 10-6 overall record, including a 1-1 record in conference play.
• This year marks head coach Tom Lilly's 25th season at the helm of Creighton's women's and men's tennis programs. Lilly has been a part of Bluejay tennis for 32 years. 
• This year, Creighton has a roster of three freshmen, one sophomore, two juniors and four seniors.
 
Series History
• Nebraska is 19-0 all-time against the Creighton Bluejays, with its last victory coming on Feb. 1, 2020 at the Dillon Tennis Center. 
• Creighton and NU last met in 2020, when the Huskers earned a 4-0 victory at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.
 
Up Next
• The Huskers will travel to No. 6 Duke on Jan. 29 at 10:00 a.m. CT, and then will travel to Ames, IA., to compete against Iowa State on Feb. 4.

Two Freshmen Join Nebraska
• Lucy Loy, a native of Fishers, Ind., played club tennis at Indianapolis Racquet Club for Coach Jamie Dieveney and competed for Fishers High School, under Coach Dave Heffern. A four-time letterwinner, Loy received all-state honorable mention in 2018, second team all-state honors in 2019 and first team all-state honors in 2021. Loy was a regional finalist in 2019 and a state semifinalist in 2021. On the club side, Loy was a Midwest level 2 and 3 doubles winner and a level 3 singles winner.
• A native of La Crescenta, Calif., Jillian Roa was a standout player in high school where she won the singles junior ITF title in Skopje, Macedonia. She was also regional U18 Champion of the Balearic Islands and reached the singles finals in a junior ITF in La Nucia, Spain. 
 
Huskers Return Experience to Lineup
• Sophomores Kristina Novak, Chloe Kuckelman, and redshirt freshman Ellie Kuckelman led the Huskers with singles wins in their last matchup with Creighton. 
• This fall, Novak and Makoric advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles play at the ITA Regionals, while Roa advanced to the semifinals of the consolation draw.
• Chloe Kuckelman had an impressive 2021 spring season playing out of the No. 4 and No. 5 positions as she fell short in only two matches last season while finishing with 15 wins.

Novak Claimed Slovenian Title To Close 2021 
• Novak beat Noka Juric 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the title and win the Slovenian National Championship in Medvode, Slovenia in December.
• With the championship, she wrapped up an impressive year after earning First-Team All-Big Ten honors for the 2020-21 season, while also being named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in both the fall and spring semesters.

Ticket Information for Spring Game & Aer Lingus Classic

Spring Game Tickets Available Next Week
Tickets for Nebraska's April 9 Red-White Spring Game will go on sale to Husker fans next week. Football season ticket holders will have the first opportunity to purchase spring game tickets on Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 10 a.m., with the public on-sale beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m.

Reserved tickets for the spring game are $10 in advance and will be $20 on the day of the game if tickets remain. Any available club tickets will be $25. Children 8th grade and younger will be admitted for $1 and must secure a reserved ticket in advance. University of Nebraska-Lincoln students can secure a free ticket to the spring game on-line by visiting Huskers.com/students.

Fans are encouraged to buy tickets on-line at Huskers.com/tickets and can also purchase spring game tickets by calling the ticket office at 1-800-8-BIG RED. There is a limit of 10 tickets per account. All tickets will be mobile delivery or picked up at will call. Fans choosing the will call option will receive instructions on picking up their tickets from the Athletic Ticket Office after March 1.

Kickoff time for the April 9 Red-White Spring game will be announced at a later date. Nebraska Athletics continues to work closely with the Lincoln/Lancaster County Health Department and will provide any health and safety protocols for the spring game as needed. 

Nebraska fans interested in purchasing 2022 football season tickets are encouraged to join the Football Season Ticket Request List at Huskers.com/requestlist.  Season tickets for the 2022 season are priced at $420 for seven home games at Memorial Stadium.
 
Aer Lingus College Football Classic Tickets Available Jan. 31
Tickets for the Aug. 27 Nebraska season opener against Northwestern in the Aer Lingus Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland will be available on Monday, Jan. 31 at 11 a.m. CT. This will mark the first opportunity to purchase tickets in the Nebraska ticket block without a package.

Nebraska's ticket allocation will be located on the East Side of Aviva Stadium on Levels 1, 3 and 5. Ticket prices for the game are $175, $250 and $340, and will be available on-line Monday, Jan. 31 through the Athletic Ticket Office at Huskers.com/tickets.  There is a limit of eight tickets per account, and all tickets will be mobile delivery through Ticketmaster.

Fans still interested in a travel package for the Aer Lingus Classic can find more information at Huskers2Ireland.com.

Nebraska and Northwestern will compete for the Keough-Naughton trophy that bears the names of two powerhouses of Irish America, Don Keough and Martin Naughton. The schools will match up at Aviva Stadium, home to both the Irish rugby and soccer national teams.

Husker Men Climb to No. 12 in National Rankings

The Nebraska track and field team appeared at No. 12 in the men's rankings of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Association's (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index on Monday.

The No. 12 ranking is the highest for the men in the indoor season since the Husker men were tabbed No. 11 in the 2016 preseason rankings.

Eight Huskers have performances in 11 combined events contributing to Nebraska's score of 55.08 in the Track & Field Rating Index (TFRI).

Darius Luff is fourth in the country in the 60m hurdles (7.70), followed by a pair of fifth-place rankings by Alex Talley in the shot put (65-7, 19.99m) and weight throw (73-3 1/2, 22.34m). Burger Lambrechts Jr. sits sixth in the shot put with a launch of 64-9 1/4 (19.75m).

Michael Hoffer is currently tied for 24th in the high jump (7-0 1/4, 2.14m) and 27th with a jump of 24-8 1/2 (7.53m) in the long jump. Maxwell Otterdahl is the fourth Husker contributing in two events, ranking 22nd in the shot put (61-7, 18.77m) and 25th in the weight throw (67-6 3/4, 20.69m).

Henry Zimmerman ranks 24th in the weight throw (67-8 1/4, 20.63m), while Clayton Keys is 25th in the long jump (24-9 1/4, 7.55m) and Mayson Conner is 34th in the high jump (6-11, 2.11m).

The Huskers are one of two Big Ten programs listed in the top 25 of the men's rankings, with Iowa checking in at No. 9.

Nebraska continues action this weekend, hosting the Adidas Classic on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 28-29 at the Devaney Center Indoor Track.

Huskers Reschedule Match with Omaha for Feb. 20

After a postponement earlier in the season, Nebraska men's tennis has rescheduled its match against the Omaha Mavericks for Feb. 20 at 5 p.m. at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

The game with the Mavericks had previously been set for Saturday, Jan. 15, but health and safety protocols within the Maverick program caused the game's postponement. The new game date and time were set through the cooperation of the Nebraska and Omaha staffs.

The Huskers match with SMU will remain in the morning of Feb. 20 at 10 a.m., with the newly rescheduled match with Omaha to follow at 5 p.m.

Nebraska's next match will be on Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. against the Drake Bulldogs at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center. Updates will be posted to Huskers.com and @HuskerMTennis on Twitter.