“I’d like a 30-win season,” Blakeney said after he picked up victory No. 29 in Kansas University’s 5-2 win over Nebraska on Sunday at Alvamar Racquet Club. “It’s just something I’m trying to do for myself. It’s my last year. It’d be a great way to go out.”

No KU men’s tennis player has won 30 matches in a season since Enrique Abaroa went 30-13 in 1996-97, and none besides, possibly, Blakeney ever will accomplish the feat again.

Last month the KU athletics department announced it would cut men’s tennis and men’s swimming for financial reasons, setting off a mad scramble among the Jayhawks with eligibility remaining to find someplace to finish their collegiate careers.

But Blakeney, from Charlotte, N.C., didn’t bother.

“I kind of expected to play four years,” he said after claiming his 14th win in 15 tries. “But I’m going to stay here. When they announced the cut, I told coach not to let any coaches call me. I don’t plan on playing anywhere else for my last year, and I’m not going pro. I’m pretty much just done. There is life after tennis.”

Blakeney’s career isn’t finished yet. The Jayhawks still have three road matches remaining, but Sunday was their final home match.

To mark the occasion, supporters held a postmatch reception, complete with balloons, confetti and an ice sculpture, to commemorate the final home match in program history.

“I’m proud of them for coming through with two wins this weekend,” coach Ross Nwachukwu said. “I never thought I’d be associated with the last two home tennis matches at the University of Kansas. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that. And I told the guys they were writing the last two chapters of Kansas tennis history.”

Andrew Metzler, a freshman from Kansas City, Mo., thought the story of his KU career would read like a novel. Instead it will serve merely as prologue.

“It’s been a rough year,” said Metzler, who fell to NU’s Ryan Haith, 6-2, 6-4, in the No. 6 singles spot. “It’s been a real challenge. But it’s just a bump in the road. You’ve got to move on.”

Metzler is considering his options, but he considers North Carolina his likely destination next season.

“I have lots of sympathy for the younger guys,” Blakeney said, referring to a team that relies exclusively on non-seniors. “They’ve had to deal with a lot of adversity. Our head coach left in the fall, then we got a new coach and we had to adjust to him. Then the cuts. The freshmen really haven’t played a lot of college matches and they have all this happen to them. I feel really bad for them.”

And they can sympathize with their elders.

“I feel really bad for the juniors,” Metzler said. “They put in three years of hard work for the school. In a way it’s easy for us because we can move on. We’re not as attached to the program. But we’re all fighters. We’re all competitors, as we showed today.”

And Metzler showed he’s sentimental, too. He obviously was touched by the postmatch reception.

“It’s just awesome,” he said. “It was basically the moms, but it was good to see people still care. It was good to see the alumni still care. It helps us leave on a good note and makes us feel better about everything that happened.”

KU will travel to Oklahoma on Saturday and to Oklahoma State on Sunday.

“It’s been a real privilege to coach this team,” Nwachukwu said. “What these guys accomplished is extraordinary. The way that they have overcome the circumstances and adversity that faced them is outstanding. These guys could have said, ‘I got recruited to represent KU and my team got discontinued. What’s the use?’ But my guys have not allowed this to stop us from achieving the goals that we’ve had since Day One, and I’m proud of them for that.”

Singles

Eleazar Magallan, KU, def. Jorge Abos Sanchez, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Lance Mills, NU, def. Rodrigo Echagaray, 6-0, 6-4.

Quentin Blakeney, KU, def. Adnan Hadzialic, 6-3, 7-5.

Pete Stroer, KU, def. Kai Rieke, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Alex Barragan, KU, def. Fungai Tongoona, 6-2, 6-2.

Ryan Haith, NU, def. Andrew Metzler, 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles

Blakeney-Stroer, KU, def. Rieke-Tongoona, 8-2.

Sanchez-Hadzialic, NU, def. Echagaray-Barragan, 8-6.

Magallan-Metzler, KU, def. Mills-Haith, 9-7.