SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia Men’s Tennis team invited Sterling College (Kan.) to Seward to compete at the Bulldog Tennis Courts for the first time this year. Down to the final bout, No. 2 Santi Abadia clinched the 4-3 dual victory over the Warriors. Abadia and Michael Bedrosian went undefeated in their singles and doubles matches against Sterling.
CUNE has won four out of its last five duals and shift its record up to 4-5 and only one more dual remains before conference play. Head Coach Lisa Hart commented on how hard the team played and how it brings her joy to see the passionate tennis play.
“We came out and played hard. The wind was a huge factor in every game, but it is a part of playing tennis at a high level in any situation. I’m proud of how the guys continued to fight and how Santi kept his composure to get the individual match and team win. It was good to see passion from the team and we look forward to our next opponent.”
All the matches were done besides the No. 2 singles and Abadia strapped the team to his back and soared in his final set (7-6, 6-1). The Bogotá, Colombia, native won his third singles battle of the year and now has 11 career dual wins in singles play.
Two of the contests that proceeded the Abadia clash were big as No. 4 Manuel Rodriguez and No. 5 Bedrosian needed the final set tiebreakers to take each triumph. Rodriguez clamped down on Estaban Rocha (6-2, 4-6, 13-11) and Bedrosian clinched against David Garces (4-6, 6-4, 10-4) in comeback fashion.
The first point was gathered by the Bulldogs in doubles as No. 3s Luke Johnson and Grady Works collected a 6-4 set victory over Robin Baransi and Abhydudit Nagar. No. 2s Bedrosian and Abadia defeated Pedro Felipoff and Louis Boisdenghien, clinching doubles point, which was later needed for the team overall.
Sterling drops to 2-2 on the season, after defeating common foe Hastings (7-0). The team has two more non-conference matches before facing conference play.
Concordia (4-5) faces Iowa Central Community College (8-1) tomorrow (Mar. 3) in Seward. The Men are scheduled to play at the Bulldog Tennis Courts and the women inside Walz Fieldhouse, both at 1 p.m. CT. The Tritons have gone 1-1 against other GPAC competition.