SALINA, Kan. – With 32 teams in the doubles draw, Hugo Fuentes and Nick Velders were a tiebreak win away from the championship at the ITA NAIA Central-West Regional Championships on Sunday (Sept. 28). Concordia University, Nebraska Tennis had 10 players invited to the tournament held at Salina Central High School.
“I am so proud of all of our players who competed at our regional championships,” Head Coach Lisa Hart said. “Cannot say enough about Nick and Hugo. They played with such great composure and fight. They played high level doubles all weekend - I am mostly proud of how they represent CUNE and our program with their classy behavior and competitive spirit.”
Selected as the No. 7 seed, Velders and Fuentes were chosen not to make it past the tournament quarterfinals. Making it to the finals, the tag team dropped the first set (5-7) to No. 5 Alexis Diaz and Marcos Menendez (Morningside) but stepped on the gas in the second winning 6-2. Forcing a 10-point playoff, the pairing dropped the tiebreak (5-10) to the Mustangs duo. In the journey to the Championship, Fuentes and Velders made it through the first five rounds with an upset (8-2) of No. 3 Petr Kollar and Zaidh Zihar (Bethel College).
In singles, No. 3 Velders continued his run making quarterfinals and dropped his match in a tiebreak (5-7, 6-4, 10-12) to the eventual champion No. 11 Diaz (Morningside). The Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, native bested his first three opponents 36 game to 10. No. 8 Fuentes defeated Axel Scott (6-7(5-7), 6-3, 10-7) of Avila University in his opening match but dropped his second in a tiebreak.
In women’s singles, No. 4 Mariana Molano blasted to the quarterfinals but dropped a tough tiebreak to No. 5 Zeynep Sila Ege (Texas Wesleyan), 6-7(3-7), 6-2, 4-10. Molano crushed her first three opposing players 36-9 in games played including a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over No. 13 Alexandra Persson (Ottawa University), 6-2, 6-2.
Unranked Chakira Derman defeated Carlotta Klaa (Friends University), 6-2, 6-0, and upset No. 16 Liz Calderon (Doane), 6-2, 7-5. The Lomé, Africa native fell to No. 1 Jensen (Morningside), 1-6, 2-6, in the round of 16.
In doubles, Mariana Molano and Ishane Derman defeated Carla Arce and Kaja Brunzlow (Texas Wesleyan University), 9-8 (9-7), but dropped their bout versus No. 1s Line Jensen and Brooke Marshall (Morningside), 8-1.
Ben Chisholm, Santiago Abadia, Alana Lopez Pagan, Nina Milic and Alexa Richert also competed in Salina.
Concordia Women’s Tennis will take on Nebraska Wesleyan University in a dual on Tuesday (Oct. 7). The match will be at 4 p.m. in Lincoln. The men’s tennis team has completed its fall and will pick back up on Feb. 1 against McPherson College (Kan.).