SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia Women’s Tennis team invited Sterling College (Kan.) to Seward to compete at the Bulldog Tennis Courts for the first time this year. Two big doubles wins and Alana Lopez-Pagan, in singles, were the lone wins as the Bulldogs fell 2-5 to the Warriors. The home team sorely missed Mariana Molano, sliding every player up a spot in 1v1 play.
CUNE is back at .500 with a 4-4 record and only one more dual remains before conference play. Head Coach Lisa Hart commented on the dual versus Sterling and tough conditions at the courts.
“We came out and played hard. The wind was a huge factor in every game, but it is a part of playing tennis at a high level in any situation. I’m proud of how the girls continued to fight and Alana continues to get stronger with another singles win. It was good to see passion from the team and we look forward to getting better. We missed Marina big time in singles.”
After No. 2s fell, Tessa Blough and Lopez-Pagan continued to fight against Ana Alvarez and Sofia Tominaga and seized the 6-4 set win. No. 3s Lauren Gottberg and Chakira Derman fought toward the doubles point against Giovana Gaboardi and Natalia Antkowiak and took the victory, 6-4. Both pairs won their first sets together as a duo this season.
Lopez-Pagan at No. 3, had to battle for a third set tiebreaker to remain on top (4-6, 6-3, 10-8) against Nadia Margaritov. The North Forney product has added five singles victories in her sophomore year and 14 in her career.
Other competing in singles were: Derman (No. 1), Blough (No. 2), Alexa Richert (No. 4), Brooke Hosick (No. 5) and Lauren Gottberg (No. 6).
Sterling moves to 3-1, with this being their only dual won without going 7-0 in the matchups. The Warriors will face three more non-conference opponents before heading into the conference play.
Concordia (4-4) faces Iowa Central Community College (3-2) tomorrow (Mar. 3) in Seward. The Men are scheduled to play at the Bulldog Tennis Courts and the women inside Walz Fieldhouse, both at 1 p.m. CT. The Tritons have gone 1-2 against other GPAC competition.