HASTINGS, Neb. – The Concordia Men’s Tennis team went west to Hastings for its final regular season dual on Saturday morning (Apr. 20). With the Broncos only having four athletes, the Dawgs pounced on their conference rival, 6-1, and sealed their spot in the conference tournament. After leading 6-5 in the opening set, No. 2 Manuel Rodriguez received a loss after retiring from play.
Concordia takes their second conference win (2-4) and pushes their overall record to 8-12. Head Coach Lisa Hart commented on getting the job done and about the ending of the regular season.
“We did what we needed to do today. We made sure we had a spot in the GPAC tournament. I’m proud of our team! They have fought through a lot of adversity this year and have pushed through the whole season. I’m super excited to make our first trip together to the GPAC tournament next week.”
No. 4 Bedrosian was able to clinch the conference win with relative ease (6-2, 6-0) over Agustin Lopez. Santi Abadia at No. 3, poured on unneeded points with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 clobbering over Ethan Mins.
No. 1 Hugo Fuentes won his third straight (6-2, 6-3) defeating Nick Smeltzer in the dominating dual. After struggling in the first half of the season, he has claimed victory over four of his last five opponents.
With three doubles open for Hastings, No. 2s Abadia and Fuentes made quick work (6-1) of Lopez and Thane Waite taking the doubles point. Rodriguez and Bedrosian at No. 1s, finished off the Lancers in team play with a 7-5 hard-fought win over Smeltzer and Mins.
The Broncos finish their 2023-24 campaign with a 1-16 overall record and winless (0-6) in conference play. With their one win coming from injury today, Hastings will look to grow for the 2024-25 year after missing out on postseason play.
Concordia (8-12, 2-4 GPAC) will get almost a week's break before traveling to Sioux City, Iowa to the GPAC championship tournament. The bracket play is set for April 26-27 at Morningside University.