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SEWARD, Neb. – Visiting Mount Marty proved a worthy adversary at the top of the lineup, but the depth of the Concordia University Men’s Tennis team ultimately made the difference. The Bulldogs emerged with a 5-2 victory on Thursday (April 13) while celebrating seniors Juan Rabellino and Eduardo Rojas. Concordia swept its way through doubles and then sewed up the victory with four singles triumphs.
Head Coach Cam Long’s squad has won back-to-back days inside the Walz Fieldhouse, where it went to escape strong wind gusts. The Bulldogs have bumped their overall record to 10-7 (2-2 GPAC).
“We played really well in doubles,” Long said. “One doubles came back from being down 2-5. The back of our lineup has been coming through, and that’s good to see.”
Rabellino and Rojas went out winners in the final home matches of their careers. Both took care of business in both singles and doubles. Starting with doubles, Rabellino paired with Hugo Fuentes on a close win, 7-5, at the No. 1 spot. Everything else fell in line as Shawn Springer and Thomas Van Haaren dominated at No. 2, 6-1, and Rojas and Santiago Abadia cruised at No. 3, 6-2.
The team score moved to 3-0 after Rojas and Manuel Rodriguez polished off singles wins at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Rojas won going away, 6-1, 6-1, while Rodriguez was on the right side of a 6-4, 6-2, score. Mount Marty then won at the Nos. 1 and 2 spots to close within 3-2 in the team scoring. Concordia followed by slamming the door shut via the work of Van Haaren (6-0, 6-1) at No. 5 and Rabellino (6-3, 6-2) at No. 6. The top two spots in the Bulldog singles lineup were held down by Fuentes and Abadia.
While Concordia has endured two losses within conference play, members of the team hope to show how they’ve learned and grown from those experiences. Said Springer, “We played two really good teams to start off conference play, Morningside and Doane. Even though the results looked not as close, the matches were. It came down to a couple points here and there. I believe we have fine-tuned some consistency-based skills and have come together to support each other more. We’re right there.”
Added Rodriguez, “We’re going to learn from the mistakes and we’ll be ready for Saturday against Midland. If we can win over Midland, we’ll have an opportunity to improve our position in the GPAC.”
The Bulldogs will close out the week by playing at conference leading Midland (10-7, 1-0 GPAC) on Saturday. First serve from Fremont, Neb., is set for 12 p.m. CT. Last year’s meeting in Seward went to the Warriors by a 7-0 score.