BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – In its first action since a 6-3 loss at College of Saint Mary, the Concordia University women’s tennis team rebounded by defeating Baker University, 7-2, on Monday (April 22) afternoon in Baldwin City, Kan. The Bulldogs took all three doubles and four of six singles matches in another convincing win.
Coaches David DeSimone and Javier Moreno have guided Concordia to a 13-5 (5-2 GPAC) overall mark at the close of the regular season. The 13 victories equal a program single-season standard shared by the 2018 team. The Bulldogs have won six of their last seven matches.
Concordia was well on its way to victory by the end of doubles play, which saw wins earned by the combos of senior Marlene Maier and sophomore Claudia Miranda Viera at No. 1, 8-4, sophomore Allison Marshall and junior Kirsten Wagner at No. 2, 8-6, and juniors Angela Bell and Lindee Schultz at No. 3, 8-4. The Bulldogs are now an impressive 37-17 as a team in doubles action this season.
It's been quite a one and only season at Concordia for Maier, who has played at No. 1 in all 18 matches and now owns a 16-2 singles record. Maier defeated Baker’s Kate Taylor-Doran, 6-1, 6-3, at the top of the lineup. The rest of the Bulldog singles triumphs came from the bottom half of the lineup: No. 4 Wagner, No. 5 Marshall and No. 6 Ansley Gates. None of the battles went to a tiebreaker, although Gates and Josephine Moore engaged in a 7-5, 7-5, competition.
The result puts the Wildcats (Heart of America Athletic Conference) at 5-9 overall. On the other side, Concordia’s only two defeats over the past 10 matches came at the hands of the first and second place teams in the GPAC. The Bulldogs dropped a tight 5-4 decision to regular season champion Hastings.
Up next are the GPAC Championships this Friday and Saturday at Fremont High School in Fremont, Neb. Unofficially, the Bulldogs will be the No. 3 seed in the six-team bracket that features a single-elimination format. The top two seeds receive byes into the semifinals.