Despite injury, Nebraska transfer making an impact at UND
Apr. 18—GRAND FORKS — Victor Moreno Lozano was set to be the big addition to the UND men's tennis team this season.
Moreno Lozano spent four years at Nebraska, where he won nearly 50 singles and 30 doubles matches. He climbed within the top 100 of all active Spanish tennis players.
Moreno Lozano transferred for his final year of college tennis and to pursue a master's in biomedical engineering.
But the season hasn't gone as planned.
Moreno Lozano suffered an abdominal injury in the first tournament in the fall. He tweaked it again in the second practice this spring.
He's only been able to play seven singles matches due to the injury. In those matches, his serving has been extremely limited to the point where he's had to serve underhand depending on the pain level.
"At the beginning of the spring, I couldn't play any singles or doubles," Moreno Lozano said. "I started playing doubles, only serving a game or two, but no singles. When I started playing singles, I was serving at 60 percent or so. When I was playing back-to-back weekends, I was serving at 50 percent or less. It's basically trying to make the serve and play from the baseline."
Attempting to win matches without getting any free points from the serve is difficult at the Division-I level.
"It's pretty hard, especially mentally," Moreno Lozano said. "When you're going to serve, you know it's going to be a tough game. At this level, everyone has a really good serve and having the injury makes it harder. You know you're going to have to break a guy a couple of times, because you know you're going to get broken."
Even so, Moreno Lozano has managed to give UND a boost down the stretch.
In the last regular-season match of the season, he knocked off former Summit League Player of the Year Nam Pham of Illinois State 6-2, 5-7, 7-5. That match helped UND win the dual 4-3 and finish in a three-way tie for second place in the Summit.
Due to a loss of tiebreakers, UND will be the No. 4 seed in the Summit League tournament this weekend in suburban Des Moines, Iowa. The Fighting Hawks will host perennial Summit League power Denver, the regular-season champ, at 3 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Drake plays Illinois State in the other semi.
"We play a really good team," Moreno Lozano said. "They're undefeated. Our team has been playing better and better throughout the season. Guys are playing well, so we'll try to give our best and get the 'W' and go to the finals."
Moreno Lozano picked UND because he had played under Fighting Hawks coach Tom Boysen at Nebraska.
Boysen, an assistant with the Huskers, came to UND to be the head coach in 2021.
Upon graduating with a degree in biomedical engineering from Nebraska, Moreno Lozano looked for places to play his fifth year and continue his education. He called Boysen and they re-connected.
"He's a great kid and he's been a great leader," Boysen said.
Moreno Lozano will graduate with his master's in biomedical engineering in August.
"Apart from the injury, everything has been great — the coaches, my teammates, the academics," he said of his season in Grand Forks. "We have really good relationships. We're a good family. That makes it really easy to be in."
Where: Waukee Northwest High School, Waukee, Iowa.
Friday's semifinals: No. 1 Denver vs. No. 4 UND, 3 p.m., No. 2 Drake vs. No. 3 Illinois State, 6 p.m.
Saturday's final: Semifinal winners, 2 p.m.
