SEWARD, Neb. – A day after the women’s team swept all singles matches from Hastings, Concordia University Men’s Tennis produced similar results. It was another blustery, chilly evening at the Bulldog Tennis Courts where the Bulldogs saddled the Broncos with a 6-1 defeat while taking five of six singles matches and two of three doubles clashes. Three Concordia players earned victories in both singles and doubles.
Head Coach David DeSimone’s squad has moved to 2-0 in conference play (6-3 overall) having also defeated Morningside. In the victory, DeSimone saw plenty of positives, along with areas that need fine-tuning as GPAC action carries on into April.
“There is always stuff we can improve upon,” DeSimone said. “We came out and battled the elements really well today and did enough to get some good, solid wins across the board. I’m happy with the way the guys competed and battled the elements and our opponent today.”
Midland and Doane remain in front of the Bulldogs in the official GPAC ratings, but the men wearing navy and white are building the type of depth that will pose a challenge. Hastings earned its only singles win at the No. 1 spot in a matchup that came down to a tiebreaker. The winners for Concordia included Jeremiah Berryman (No. 2), Luke Zoller (No. 3), Isaac Howes (No. 4), Joe Bindl (No. 5) and Juan Rabellino (No. 6). Howes held off Thane Waite in a tiebreaker.
Berryman is one of four Bulldogs to start out 2-0 in GPAC singles matches. He’s been a member of the program since the 2018 season and has seen the progress first hand.
“We’re a good team. This is one of the best teams I’ve ever been on,” Berryman said. “Beating Hastings 6-1 is great all around. We’re good in singles and we’re getting better at doubles. We believe we will continue to win and do well throughout the season.”
In doubles competition, Concordia picked up the team point thanks to triumphs at Nos. 1 and 3. Berryman teamed up with Gregor Lainer at No. 1 (6-3) while Bindl and Zoller collaborated at No. 3 (6-0). It took less than 15 minutes for Bindl and Zoller to polish off their counterparts across the net.
Said DeSimone, “We have a lot of depth from 1 through 6, 7 and 8, even. Being pretty decisive towards the middle and bottom of the lineup is good to see. We definitely want to continue to work on closing out matches and closing out games.”
The Bulldogs will have the rest of this week off from competition as they look forward to playing at Baker University (Kan.) at 1 p.m. CT on Thursday, April 8.