1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Get to know the Nebraska women's tennis team: January 15th, 2026, 11:25am

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

Breaking down the upcoming season. Who to watch for on the Cornhuskers. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

with D.P. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7 the ticket. Welcome back. Nebraska Women's Tennis Head Coach, Hermann Del Margo. In studio, as the Huskers prepare to open their season, tomorrow against James Madison University, 6 o'clock, free tickets, free admission, family-friendly, bring the family, bring your young ones, gather them up. It is a fun event.

And I can speak to that personally. And I love that I actually went down and experienced it. So I know what we're talking about. And I'll be there. I'm going to be there tomorrow night, 6 o'clock to see you kick off. Let's go through some of the returning players that folks would see if they, if they find their way to Dillon Tennis Center tomorrow night. Yeah.

Yeah. Who do you want to go through first? Well, your captains are, your captains are, it was an interesting thing to watch how different teams programs pick their captains and their leadership. What is the process for you determining who's going to lead your team? You know, we kind of, it's an interest one because we, I came in in the fall. It's like, last couple of years, we haven't had a name captain. Like, I know, hey, this is where you're going to wear a new sleeve type of deal. Yeah.

I tried to base it off just like, hey, anybody can be a leader by example, by the voice, you know, all that. So I kind of let kind of the upper class man lead a little more, but some younger ones were kind of like eager to do it. So I kind of let them be. And actually this year I brought it up. I was like, hey, I want to be named captains, this Y. And they all look at me kind of like, why coach. So we have great, great culture right now. It's like we're all on the same page.

We all lead each other. We all like, it's like, I don't think we need it. You know, and I was like, at first I was like, no, I'm going to name it. And I was like, you know what? Okay, I'm going to listen to you guys, you know? And then we ended up no name in, specifically one. And I brought that up for that very reason, because you hear about player-led teams and programs. And I think you've landed on that.

Where the players said, you know, we got this coach. We're all going to do our part. Yeah. And I think it kind of became that, you know, and I was like, and I feel like I've been preaching that. And I always told the team, you know, it's like, I guess. It starts with me, but also, you know, I'm trying to project kind of the cultural environment where, you know, we want a player to lead a little bit of a team because I think they take accountability, they take ownership on what they do, you know, and it became kind of clear that

I was like, well, maybe we don't need it, you know, because we have a good group, a good culture and a team that is each one kind of chip in, you know, and do their own part and and keep a keep it moving in the right direction. So I think it, I didn't name it. And I didn't name it. And I was pretty head on that I was going to. And then I think their actions, they're kind of what the team we have. And I was like, you know what? I'm just kind of let it be. But so it's been good. You know, we're about to start of the spring season. So we'll see how we see how that goes. You know, but we talk about it a lot, you know, kind of how we just, you know, we're one team, you know, We win together, we lose together, and it's never anybody's fault.

It never won person's credit, you know. So we're in this together, and we're going to do the best to, you know, if somebody's down, we're going to try to lift them up. And if somebody's up, we're going to try to praise them too. You know, so we're preaching that. And I think the team is, you know, all in on that, you know, which I think is good to see. You have a couple of players with connections with my alma.

you have a couple of players from VCU. Yeah. Appreciate you. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they've been great. I think it's when I was recruiting them last, you know, last summer, basically, you know. I kind of knew one of them, T.C. Argentina and that's kind of what I'm from.

But I kind of recruited her before. And then, you know, she went there. And then Emma, you know, we both kind of, I was like, well, both. and I have a couple of spots at that time. And, you know, and I kind of knew that they were great competitors and really good teammates. And so I was like, well, let's go, you know, bring them both. And they've been great, you know, really good teammates. They work hard.

They complain very little, you know. So it's good. It's good. They've been, you know, great to have in the team. And I think everybody else has been really good too. And I think those two have been really good leaders as well off the core. and mainly just by example. You know, they're both pretty good students.

They, you know, they're just, they're good teammates. They kind of, you know, they will go out of their way to be a good teammate, you know. But they also put the work in and, you know, and they love tennis. They love competing. And that's, you know, what else can you ask for us as a coach, you know? As I look at your roster, there's no seniors. We have no seniors this year. That's correct.

We have a bunch of juniors, you know. And they all kind of come in different ways. ways almost, you know, Masha, which is Maria Turnova, which is kind of the only one that started here and it's been a junior. But we have Emma Tisi, you know, both came in, you know, as a sophomore's, but then and then we have Raya, you know, as well as a junior and they have used to as a junior. So, yeah, we have five juniors right now. So next year's, you know, the senior speech will be, it's going to be a little bit. There's a lot going on.

But yeah, no, we have a good group, no seniors. I think it's a good core, you know, the ones that we added, you know, Conley as a sophomore, Kat, Catherine, as a sophomore. Natty came in last year, so freshman. Now, as a sophomore, it's been great. And then we had a Katie right now in January as a freshman. So I think she's fitting really well. It kind of already seems like she's been here for more than just, you know, 10 days.

I knew you were excited about this, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. know she's been great she's a very high IQ in tennis great player uh you just be you know how she adjust to call the tennis right away you know uh it will take a little bit of time but she's great she's been she's been really good so do you kind of know the lineup on how you're gonna how you're going to how you're going to roll out is it is it out of line for you to disclose that or or do you kind of want to pop that up on james madison last yeah i mean we haven't we haven't told the team yet so you kind of know i will i will get a little

angry text. Oh, no, I'm not. No, no, no, no. We are not going to break code. No, no, no. I think it's, you know, that's, it's been the toughest part, to be honest, right now, the lineup, because we know that nobody can, like, all can play at one time, you know, so we've been trying to, to kind of see what's the best for the team, but also having a good balance, you know, in across the, you know, doubles and singles and at the same time, you know, knowing that we're going to, we're going to, we're going to, going to make somebody happy and somebody unhappy, you know, and that's part of the game. And we'll try to tell them that whatever is, it's going to be tomorrow's, that's the mean that it's going to be there for the year.

And that doesn't mean that it's going to be there for the next day either. It's tough because everybody works hard and everybody to appoint this surfs to play. You know, sometimes you just, you know, just got to, you know, make a choice and do what the best you think, you know, you're making. And at the end of the day, it could be, you know, I could make a mistake or no. And I told the team, you know, we'll take the responsibility for it, for that, you know, and then we'll try to make the best decision we can. And on their side, you know, we told them about, you know, whether you're in and out,

their priority needs to be a really good teammate, you know, if you're playing, and be a really good team if you're not playing, you know. And so it's tough. I think it's a toughest part sometimes of our job is to decide the lineup and who plays who doesn't. And, you know, in tennis, the tricky part is that we can't do subs. We can go in and out, you know, sometimes in basketball, you know, you can have, you know, all your team play, you know, in one game. Sometimes not, right? But in football, the same, right? In tennis, you play and that's it, you know, you can't go out, you know, whether you're playing your best or

you're worse. You've got to go out there and stay the whole game, whole match. So sometimes, you know, we, a lot of coaches talk about it's like, I imagine if we were a lot of and saps, you know, with somebody struggling, just take them out. Yeah. It happens at every sport, right? Yeah. You know, even in golf, you know, you're like, oh, well, you can scratch a score, you know, like in tennis, no.

If you're playing, if you're not playing as well, you're like, you're out there and you're exposed, you know, and you have to deal with it. And sometimes some go out there, you don't know that, right? Until they play, okay, are they going to bring their best or no? Sometimes they don't, you know, and it's part of the sport too. But yeah, it's, uh, they're out there for the whole match and then you can't take them out and you can take them out the next match, but even then it's not as easy either. So because we play by spots and then if you take one spot out, then everybody has to move up.

You can't just replace somebody in a particular lineup. Sometimes it's just matchup. Yep. Sometimes it's matchup. Yep. Sometimes it's a good matchup. Sometimes it's a bad matchup and then you just have to roll with it, you know, and then go. But I would say, I'll say the toughest part of our job right now is, it's deciding that lineup.

a match date because you know everybody deserves to play but you know we can't so yeah we'll see what we got tomorrow I think not I will say this no matter who's playing you know they're gonna they're gonna compete hard

they're gonna represent the school well you know they're gonna bring a lot of energy and they're gonna compete you know that's us you know no matter who's out there they're gonna do that you know and then and then we kind of we go after that you know

we'll see how it goes after that But the main thing is like, you know, we want to, you know, our culture is and our identities, so we're going to be a bunch of fighters, you know, so they're going to compete out there. These young ladies have traveled from across the world. Russia, Tokyo, Argentina, Italy, Bolivia, Canada, and the corners of the United States to be Nebraska Huskers. They wanted to be a part of this. They chose to be a part of this. I hope that y'all show up tomorrow and welcome them and let them be proud of themselves and you be proud of them as well.

We'll go to break. Come back. It's Australian Open time. And they did a thing that I found absolutely fascinating. So I need to ask coach his thoughts on this one-off thing that was done at the Australian Open. One point survivor. I know. Amateurs and pros alike.

Just one box? It's incredible. So we'll ask coach his thoughts on it. Maybe we can convince him to do one with his team and see what the results are. We'll close this out when we come back to one-on-one. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to One-on-One-on-One with DP on 937, The Ticket, and the Ticketfm.com.