CRETE, Neb. – While resuming a suspended match that had begun on April 12, the Concordia University Men’s Tennis team couldn’t seal the deal in singles play. The result was a 5-2 loss at Doane as the match concluded in Crete, Neb., on Thursday (April 21). The Bulldogs had swept through doubles play before dropping five of six singles matches.
The defeat means that Head Coach Cam Long’s squad missed out on an opportunity to claim a bye in the GPAC tournament. Concordia concluded the regular season at 4-2 in the GPAC (8-8 overall).
Throughout the season, strong doubles play has been a theme. The Bulldogs took all three doubles matches when they were contested on April 12. The victorious combos were Jeremiah Berryman and Joe Bindl at No. 1 (6-4), Jack Kitson and Juan Rabellino at No. 2 (6-4) and Eduardo Rojas and Shawn Springer at No. 3 (7-5). As evidenced by the scores, all three were close battles.
Springer managed to pull out a victory in three sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-2) at No. 2 singles. Entering the day, Doane had already claimed wins at the Nos. 1 and 3 singles spots. With the team scored tied 2-2 after Springer’s win, the Tigers clinched the team victory by taking decisions at the Nos. 4 and 5 positions. Kitson came up short in a tiebreaker in the second set. In addition, Doane won a third-set tiebreaker at the No. 6 spot.
The victory for the Tigers (11-5, 5-0 GPAC) means they will play Midland (5-0 GPAC) for a chance at winning the conference regular season title on Sunday. Concordia had twice beaten Doane last season, including once in the conference semifinals.
The GPAC tournament is up next. It will run April 29-30 at Fremont High School in Fremont, Neb. The result against Doane will slot the Bulldogs into the No. 3 seed in the GPAC tournament. The top two seeds earn byes while the teams seeded 3 through 6 play in the quarterfinal round.