1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - DP attended Nebraska Men's Tennis vs Baylor: February 8th, 11am

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

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It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the ticketfm.com. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, brought to by Canopy Street Market. Oh, yeah. There we go. There we go. We're on it, Jack, buddy.

We'll get through it, man. This is how it works. DP on Saturday. No, do not adjust your dial. one-on-ones on Saturday allows me to play catch-up with you all, kind of set the tone for the weekend and figure out we will do what we do.

It's a pretty big weekend in sports. Also a pretty big weekend for Husker Sports, so we'll cover as much of it as we can pack into 60 minutes. Greatly appreciate you hanging out with me on a Saturday. 402-464-5-6-85 is the starter-hammer-Texline. You want to be a part of what? doing. Reach out.

Hit me with a what's up. Fist pump. Whatever you want to do, we'll get it done and get into it. You can follow live on all the ticket streams, Facebook, YouTube X, and Allo Channel 961. Again, shout out to Dan Swanson, Brad Moline, the fine folks from Canopy Street Market, stop through for your Super Bowl plans and parties. They dropped off a couple of nice Super Bowl party bags for some of the staff.

If you're looking to fill up for Super Sunday, stop by Canterbury Street Market, they'll take care of you. Tell them D.P. sent you. I wanted to start in a couple of things. I spent yesterday, I spent yesterday, spent last night at two of Lincoln's finer sports venues. I spent the early part at the Dillon Tennis Center. And by five years in Lincoln, this was my first time attending a Nebraska tennis event. And I didn't know what to expect.

I do want to shout out Peter Colbilt, one, for inviting and for informing, for educating, teaching what this was all about. And I really didn't know what to expect. I really didn't. I've been to several majors, and it has its own vibe, each one, depending on the city, and depending on the type of tournament and who was playing. Sometimes if you're going to go to a major tournament when it comes to tennis, you're probably going to go when it's not the semifinals or finals.

You're going to go in the early rounds where you can see everybody, and it's kind of a crapshoot because, you know, there's 16 courts or 32 courts, and you're just trying to bounce from one to one to see what you can see. But at Nebraska, at Dillon Tennis Center, first of all, if you haven't been, it's connected to the soccer facility. So they're side by side and easy access when you go into it. Six courts all side by side and some great scoreboards and individual scoreboards and a collective scoreboard. I didn't know what the crowd vibe was going to be, but what I know.

notice was this. There was a lot more trash talking than I had expected. They get after it pretty good. And that the players get after it. So, you know, there's just like every other sport, there's the usual chance and things that they say to each other to get each other going and get them all fired up. I didn't expect it to be as absolutely engaging as a,

it was. So I didn't know the players. So I didn't know Nebraska's players. I didn't know Baylor's players. I kind of did some homework to see who was who top seats, the best players, that sort of thing. But what I can tell you is that it didn't matter that I didn't know who they were. To say that I'm slightly surprised at the quality of play, the standard of play, I didn't expect there's a phrase that that's used in in tennis broadcasts ball strike and i you you have it in your head but live it sounds different it sounds different to have an elite tennis player strike a ball in full and i mean good heavens it started with with three doubles matches that are all going at the same time and the pair and

or whatever the coaches feel like is best. And then they compete, and then whatever team wins, two of the three doubles, gets a point on the scoreboard. And super competitive. Baylor got the best of the doubles. They won two to one.

Then they went to singles. And I had become more familiar with the players during the doubles, what they did well. there are some that, you know, listen, not all serves are alike. They're just not, not all four arms, forehands are the same, not all back hands are the same. There are some that are defensive,

some that are 100% predatory strikes. And it's pretty cool to see velocity and pace and rhythm. And the athletic ability of these tennis players this isn't like I'm old now like I fully get like I'm old I play tennis when I was young but the ball striking that happened last night

with that sort of proximity being close to it it's violent there's some real violence going on there's some real racket on ball violence going on and to watch each player kind of their personalities jump out

There's one guy from bail, a big left-hander, violent serve. And he, every time he, he, he would hit a day's, he was, he would, yeah. And I, at first I was like, man, that's super arrogant. Like that is so rude. But then it became part of the competition because the Nebraska guy got a hold of a serve. It was kind of like they were giving it back to each other. players pumping up themselves was pretty remarkable stuff and then the coaching because there's two head coaches and then two assistants and they're trying to maneuver between matches and between courts because your six players are playing so you've got a you know you've got to whisper to to player on court six and whisper to yell at the player or court one and get to court three and make sure that he he understands the situation and circumstance and Baylor

and Texas you can correct me if I'm wrong but it is my belief that Nebraska had not beaten Baylor in tennis in a long time if they have it has been a long time and so the expectation was

I'm not sure that Nebraska can do well here but player one on one quarter on one of far courts one of far extreme courts court six uh the baila player got up early and he just the momentum was all he is and he wasn't going anywhere and uh the Nebraska player fought like he fought he was valiant but uh the bail of dude was just better and that's another thing that

struck me was like wrestling etc the single the individual sports when you were out there grind in and it's just you versus an opponent. There ain't no excuses. Nobody cares. You can be hurt. You can be tired. You can be in your own head. They don't care.

It and Kudzkovel mentioned the momentum that happens because the players while playing their individual matches are all yelling at the other players playing their matches. So I was told that last night was a record crowd, and it was a great crowd. Even folks to the point where the seats are filled and people are still standing up, kind of moving to whatever the match of the moment was.

Because the momentum kind of takes the crowd, its noise and attention to whatever court the most is happening on. And Baylor won, so they were up one-nothing because of the doubles, they went up to nothing because of the individual player on court six who got it going. And then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of the Nebraska players got high. All of them. And it was, oh, it was so good.

Even the players who lost the, there were a couple of players who lost the first set. And to me, in tennis, I'm always impressed by somebody regrouping, changing momentum, and regathering. That to lose a first set at that level and then, and then just wipe it clean and change the way you're playing and make shots and to win set too, to me, it's one of the undervalued, oh, my goodness, moments in sports.

Because at that level, if somebody, the elite players got it going, and shots are going down, the server's working, returns good, the body's working, and then somebody just pumps the brakes and goes, nope, all that stuff that you were doing at work for six wins, not happy for six. You won six games and this is over.

Like, we're done. And to watch the crowd adjust to it was pretty remarkable, actually. Like, it's to try to say that kind of compare it to Nebraska basketball on the road at or Washington and being down 12. And then all of a sudden, you know, you go to halftime. And everything that was working for Washington no longer work. And the shots that they were making won't go down. And the shots that Nebraska was missing, all of a sudden go in.

And you just go, sports is weird. Like if we ever figure, like, just to say, momentum is a real thing. crowd noise, energy is a real thing. Anybody says that crowds don't help you win games. Just, oh, I don't get it. I can't buy into it. And I won't buy it to it. Ultimately, it gets to 2-1, Baylor,

3-1, Baylor, 3-2, Nebraska. And then the two Huskers who had lost set-1 to their opponent, both won set-2. and both were in tie breaks. So you're just, okay, you got it. Like, you reel this end. Like, we're marks now. Like, we belong to you.

The crowd belongs to you. On the far court, so now everybody, all the matches are done except for the final two. And both of those go to third set. And one of the Nebraska players, when one in one of the individual battles left is leading. He's leading in the third set.

Matter of fact, it's 5-1. He's leading 5-1. So if he wins the set, it's now 3-3. It's 3-3. And then what everybody was thinking at the same time without saying it was, well, it's a different party if all of a sudden this, match means everything. Like if there is a match that means everything,

it changes the way people play. And if you're on a run and you're just hitting shots and it doesn't matter, right? You're just playing free versus playing to win the match. There's a difference from an athlete's standpoint, a coaching standpoint, and from a fan standpoint. But for the athletes, it's, oh, it's all going to come down to everybody focusing on one court.

well on that court that bail a player the on switch got on and stayed on and it was a far greater sporting event than i had thought it would be or assumed it would be um i say all that say this we're going to do a lot more stuff with with men's tennis and women's tennis um because it was just like i said i am a I'm a tennis fan, not a fanatic, but I'm a fan. I'm pretty knowledgeable, but not an expert. Like listening to people, the people around me who were tennis players talk is different than a fan. They were talking about rhythm, pace, shot selection, footwork, where is he in his head?

What space is he in? And I was dumbfounded. Just, I was amazed. I was like, wow, I'm an idiot because these folks, they're talking a different language. But it was incredible to just be in the space and to kind of breathe it all in. So shout out to Baylor for, I mean, finding their way. And then it's a weird thing in tennis.

Like, so they didn't finish the other map. because it's first to four. So, and I think the Baylor player may have been injured or feigned injury to extend it so that the other match would just end before theirs. But at 5-1, you know, third set, they stopped playing. And they just relied on the match that was still going. And when he went, when he won the third set, it just left it at 4-2 rather than 4-3,

which I was like, finish it. I don't know ties in tennis. What is wrong with you? Like, don't leave it hanging. Play the set. What are you doing? Like, you don't leave it at 5'1. I just thought, you know, and if you do,

then you give credit to the person that's winning. But anyway, college tennis to me. I can tell you that today, the women's program has a 12 o'clock meet at Dillon Center. If you're in your car, you're sitting at home, first of all, admission is free. It's free.

It's free for the entire family. So you're looking for something. The kids running around, young folks, you want to be interested. They raffled off a TV last night. They raffled off tennis lessons. Pretty good time. Pretty good time.

So if you're looking for something to do at 12 noon, you've got 45 minutes to go to Dillon Tennis Center. they take on South Dakota. And I was just blown away by it all. I just have to say I was blown away by it all. On the other side, after that, I sprinted over to the icebox.

And I knew that they were shooting for a sellout. And I'm not sure if they got the sellout, but they had quite the performance since Omaha. Got up 5-0. one at 6-1 congratulations to coach Rocky Russo and the stars a great crowd

they do the stars they have an interesting fan base and I would think that some of the fan base stuff is built in loyalty to the sport some of it loyalty to Lincoln but to say that

this is one of their better crowds great energy in the building and they do a thing afterwards So they do an autograph signing afterwards. They also do a coach's comment, Coach's Corner sort of deal after the game is over. And I hung around for that because I had not been a part of it. And to say that several hundred fans stayed to watch the post-game show,

like several hundred fans, I don't, like it's an, it's an, it was pretty amazing. They broadcast it. But I didn't expect that many people to still be there. And, you know, just in congratulating Coach Russo, it was like, he was like, yeah, this is a great crowd tonight. It was a great thing. So shout out to Lincoln and sports fans showing up last night. Yeah.

Showing out, as a matter of fact, because both of them were close to record crowds in two different venues. That's their, that's their first. home sell out since 2019. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was amazing to just kind of be there. And then to watch the people, Stars fans are unique. Hockey fans in general are their own breed. But to kind of lay in that space and just bask in.

And one really good hockey, they played well, of course, Coach Rousseau, So even in a 6-1 win, the coach in him couldn't relax. He was like, well, we should have been more dominant. Yeah, yeah. Trust the process, coach. I get it. You're working on your stuff. Those two teams will go at it again tonight in Omaha.

And, of course, our partnership with the Stars and being able to bring live Stars games to you. It'll be, I think 10 games, of the course of the rest of the season, maybe a little bit more, but next year we want to be able to carry them in full. And we're working on that. We have some stuff working in the back corners of the ticket that will allow us to carry more live content like that

without interrupting the regular programming that we do, the talk, the sports talk side of things. But we love the idea that we get to be Lincoln Sports Station all the time. We don't do this part-time. We don't just cherry-pick and say, we're only going to do Huskers or we're only going to do. No, no, we do Lincoln Sports and we bring you Super Bowl. We bring you March Madness. We bring you stars.

We're working on being able to bring you more content. And that's what we do here at the ticket. That's literally what it is. Also last night in a classic, in a classic. And I don't think you could be disappointed. in saying that full expectation for Husker wrestling to go to Iowa and win is not, you can say it's hoped for. If you looked at the matchups, you knew it would be competitive.

But Nebraska had an opportunity last night. And I think, I want to be careful in how I say this. Nebraska had an opportunity to go into Iowa City and beat Iowa last night. They had an opportunity. Man, oh, man, they had an opportunity. I kept, I was keeping track. So, again, the great juggle, keeping track between Nebraska softball, Nebraska tennis, Nebraska wrestling, Lincoln Stars,

lots of jobs. juggling going on. That's juggling going on. Paying attention to wrestling because I truly think that roster for roster weight class by weight class

that Nebraska wrestling is second or third in the country. Penn State's in its own stratosphere and I don't think anybody who follows wrestling, wouldn't agree. They're in their own stratosphere.

What Penn State has done on this run is just remarkable. And there's several, one of these nights, I'm just going to sit down and break down why I think that Penn State is so good. And again, if you feel free, if you have an opinion on why you think Penn State's so great and had the run that they've run, it's not like this is the Nebraska football, the 90s type of run. And it's pretty impressive.

but the Huskers went into number, and that's number three, Iowa, by the way. That's number three, Iowa. And as you lay it down and having had takedown Tuesdays and a chance to get to know these young men and the coaches, this coaching staff is epic. This is a Hall of Fame type coaching staff on every level. Like even as wrestlers and,

then as coaches. You know, Snyder's All-American and Daryl is national champion and Manning as coach the best in the world, right? It's a full group. I knew that Caleb Smith

had had some respiratory issue last week and whether it be a flu or whatever it was for him to battle. And again, he's trying to make sure that, one, he heals, two, that he doesn't get his teammates sick in his process of trying to heal.

And then, of course, some of them live together. So if one gets sick, the likelihood that several get sick is a real thing. But Caleb Smith sucked it up. And going against the rank opponent, he battled. He battled. I went back to watch it when I got home last night. and each and every competitor last night on both sides. And I folks know I generally try not to give Iowa any love whatsoever.

But that was an impressive dual meet last night and I was sick. Impressive. Huskers went at number seven, Iowa number three. It finishes 1916. the tracking went in several different directions and that Caleb Smith wins Jacob Van Dee had a brawl this was oh man

oh that was a brawl but I was Ayala it was pretty impressive tied to three then Brock Hardy puts on a show puts on I that's as good a performance as you can hope for in a 14-2 win. Ridge-loved, and this was one of the, one of,

all of these core matches in the middle was where it got really interesting in that Ridge-Lovid was facing Kyle Parko. And Parko is ranked number four in the country. Ridge winning is number two. Parko is number four, but Parkos had some success against Ridge. and you have to fight through, right?

Because styles make the fight. It makes the match. That's kind of how it works. Parko gets the win. 3-2-2 win. That was Ridge's first loss in dual meets this season. Deep breath exhale. Because then here comes Trelley.

Here comes Antro Tuller. And at 157, the middle of the wrestling of Nebraska's wrestling lineup really man like the front half is just performing like they're just going after it and they're competitive with everybody no matter what the matchup is but for Trell to go on the road and get his 40th career win 4-2 win Nebraska was rolling and we you start to peak

so Nebraska's 106 and you start doing the math right going forward I was 1,65 is number two in the country he's number two in the country and Christopher Minto who has

you want to talk about one of the great wrestling ascensions that that young man went from competing just to get on the live mats. But he went into last night at number eight in the country. He had been, this is just a shock, man. He's been going through and just taking out ranked opponents above him. Like he's just eating his way through the rankings, right?

So last night he faces number two, Calliando. Cali Endo gets the win in 5-1. It's 10-9, and you feel like, okay, this is where this meet could turn. I'll pause there because in setting up that several of the Nebraska teams, tennis and wrestling last night, went through the roller coaster rides. And if you're a Husker fan, last night, you probably gained a couple of gray hair. Because tennis,

softball did you some favors. Of course, they had a walk-off bomb. We'll talk about that as well. But my goodness, what a night. And oh, by the way, it's super Saturday. It's super Saturday. It's a big ball game tomorrow. There's lots to talk about.

We'll go to break. We'll come back. More one-on-one here on the ticket. Download our app by searching 93.7, the ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with D. on 937 the ticket and the ticketfm.com.