CRETE, Neb. – Amidst gusty conditions at the Newburg Held Tennis Complex in Crete, the Concordia University men’s tennis team fell in its sixth match of the 2016 season that has been decided by a 5-4 final. Host Doane held serve on its home courts on Thursday evening.
Second-year head coach Joel Reckewey’s squad is now 6-8 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
“It was a very hard-fought battle on the road,” Reckewey said. “We had a great start winning two of the three doubles and we had a chance to win all three. We had the momentum going into singles and battled hard in every match. I like the way we are in position to win matches in the GPAC.”
Concordia’s biggest standout all year has been freshman Willy Pardos, who has now won four of his last five singles matches at the No. 1 spot after taking care of Sebastian Gardefjord, 6-2, 6-2, on Thursday evening. Pardos improved his overall singles mark to 9-4 (2-0 vs. GPAC opponents) while also teaming up with junior Javier Moreno on a 9-8 (7-5) nailbiter victory at No. 1 doubles.
Doane clinched the match at No. 4 singles as Aaron Cook held off Concordia junior Patricio Esquivel, 6-4, 6-3, leaving only No. 5 singles yet to be decided. Additional Bulldog wins came at No. 5 singles (Gabe Poling) and at No. 3 doubles (Poling/Philip Yox).
The Bulldogs will host their final home match of the 2016 season on Wednesday (April 13) when Nebraska Wesleyan makes a visit to Seward. In last season’s meeting in Lincoln, the Bulldogs defeated the Prairie Wolves, 6-3.