SEWARD, Neb. – As part of a successful Senior Day, the Concordia University Men’s Tennis team rolled through Nebraska Wesleyan University on Wednesday (April 20). All four seniors contributed in what amounted to a 7-0 victory in a match played inside the Fieldhouse (due to wet outdoor courts). Isaac Howes and Shawn Springer were winners in both doubles and singles.
Head Coach Cam Long’s squad has moved to 8-7 overall this season with only the completion of a suspended GPAC match remaining in the regular season. The quartet of Howes, Jeremiah Berryman, Joe Bindl and Jack Kitson has been a constant for the program over the past four seasons.
Said Howes, “It’s surreal because I’ve enjoyed all four years playing with Jack, Joe and Jeremy. It’s been great. We’ve really created a lot of leaders and put a lot of effort into it these last few seasons. We set a record last season by making the (GPAC) final. Looking back at all that – I thought about it today – and I’m happy with how we’ve played. It’s not over yet – we’ve got conference play just ahead of us.”
The connectedness of the Bulldogs has been on display throughout this season in their doubles performances. Concordia won all three doubles matches by 6-3 scores on Wednesday. The duos were made up of Eduardo Luzzi and Juan Rabellino at No. 1, Jack Kitson and Shawn Springer at No. 2 and Jeremiah Berryman and Isaac Howes at No. 3.
Concordia carried those strong efforts over into a singles sweep. No tiebreakers or third sets were necessary. Howes took care of his counterpart at No. 1, 6-2, 6-4. The rest of the singles victors for the Bulldogs were Springer at No. 2, Bindl at No. 3, Eduardo Rojas at No. 4, Manuel Rodriguez at No. 5 and Luke Johnson at No. 6. Rodriguez dominated with a perfect result of 6-0, 6-0.
Formerly a GPAC member, Nebraska Wesleyan (3-9) now competes as a member of the American Rivers Conference in NCAA Division III. The Prairie Wolves dropped a 5-2 decision at Doane on Tuesday.
In the final action of the regular season, the Bulldogs will be at Doane on Thursday to complete the suspended match that was interrupted by severe weather on April 12. The contest is slated to resume at 5:30 p.m. CT from Crete, Neb. Before the match was put on hold, Concordia swept through doubles before Doane won at the Nos. 1 and 3 singles spots. Four singles matches are yet to be completed.