Hjermstad wins battle of former Northeast players

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BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Northeast graduate Nathan Hoppe brought a spare Rocket T-shirt along with him Sunday to Woods Tennis Center, just in case his opponent, former Rocket Erik Hjermstad, might want to show some school pride for the old alma mater.

Hjermstad wore the Northeast shirt, along with the lucky brown Nebraska Wesleyan tennis shorts he’s worn every time he’s played in a men’s open singles tournament final.

As it turned out, Hjermstad was dressed for success. The ex-Prairie Wolf rolled through the first set, then fought off a Hoppe set point in the second to claim a 6-3, 7-5 victory against the incoming NWU freshman to capture the Lincoln Adult Open title.

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“We looked good together in those Northeast T-shirts,” Hjermstad said. “I’m really impressed with Nate. He’s way better than I was at his age, and he’s going to keep improving. He’ll be a good player at Wesleyan.’’

It was Hjermstad’s third tournament win of the summer and put the 27-year-old one step closer to the No. 1 state ranking at the end of the year. He won the Omaha and Kearney Open titles earlier and finished second in the Nebraska Closed State Championships last month.

When Hjermstad jumped to a 5-1 lead in the first set, it appeared that third title might come easy. But Hoppe started finding the range in the second set, mixing up the pace, throwing in angled shots and launching some well-placed lobs when Hjermstad crashed the net.

“That first set was a lot easier than it should’ve been, and I laid back a little too much in the second (set),” Hjermstad said. “The practice matches I’ve played with him are always tight, so I knew he’d come back.”

Hoppe got on top 3-1 in the second set. He was serving for the set ahead 5-4 and ad-in, but double-faulted. Hoppe netted a short forehand at deuce, then lost the game when he floated a backhand volley long.

Hjermstad held serve at love to go up 6-5. Hoppe had a game point in his next service game to force a tiebreaker, but three straight unforced errors got Hjermstad over the top.

“I was playing well, then I hit a wall,” said Hoppe, who beat second-seeded Rick Stempson in the semifinals. “I don’t know if I didn’t get enough sleep or eat the right breakfast, but we switched positions there at the end of that set. I was in control, then suddenly Erik stepped up and won it.’’

Hoppe’s decision to go to NWU came recently. He had already registered for classes at the University of Nebraska, where he didn’t plan to play for the men’s team.

“(NWU) Coach (Rick) Harley wrote me a letter explaining the engineering transfer program they have and that convinced me to switch,” said Hoppe, who planned to major in civil engineering at NU. “Playing on a college team will be a lot more fun than being on a club team and just hitting with guys around here if I was going to Nebraska.”

Hoppe combined with Stempson to win the men’s open doubles. They went 2-0 in Sunday‘s three-team round-robin.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.