SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia Women’s Tennis team will take the shortest trip of the season to clash with Doane on Tuesday (Apr. 9). Only three days ago, the Bulldogs hosted Northwestern on a sunny but windy Friday and collected their second conference win of the season. Lisa Hart’s squad continues to show improvement and has totaled a 2-1 GPAC showing and a 7-6 overall record.
This Week
Tuesday, April 9 at Doane (6-9, 0-1 GPAC), 4:30 p.m.
--Location: Haddix Center (Crete, Neb.)
By the numbers
· Coming off a loss to Morningside, Concordia got back to their winning ways taking the dual (5-2) and all three doubles sets versus the Red Raiders. No. 1s Mariana Molano and Alana Lopez-Pagan defeated their opponents (6-3) with ease in their duo competition. Chakira Derman and Tessa Blough at No. 2s, finished with a 7-5 clinching win, plus No. 3s Alexa Richert and Gabrielle Heiser won in a tiebreaker set (7-6). In singles, No. 1 Molano and No. 4 Blough were on the same page finishing with 6-2, 6-3 consecutive two-set wins. No. 2 Chakira Derman (6-2, 6-2) and No. 5 Richert (6-4, 6-0) took the final singles victories to push the point total to five.
· The Bulldog blue and white have bested 38 individual singles matches and 17 doubles through 13 duals. Molano (eight) and Lopez-Pagan (seven) have collected the most triumphs in singles, with Richert (six) not far behind. Molano, the sophomore out of Bogotá, Colombia, has been undefeated (4-0) at the No. 2 slot and 4-3 at No. 1. The pair, Lopez-Pagan and Molano, have the most wins as a duo (five) plus Derman and Gottberg are unbeaten (2-0) in the couple of times they have been put together.
· The passion and relentless positivity of Alexa Richert was on full display at the Bulldog Tennis Courts against Northwestern. A freshman, the Campbell County product has won three out of her last four singles matches and is undefeated (3-0) in conference play. Finding consistency as of late, she and Gabrielle Heiser were able to get their first win as a doubles duo this past dual. The Gillette, Wyo., native seems to get stronger as the match continues, winning her second set 6-0 in four of her six singles victories.
· The Tigers come into the week with a 6-9 overall record and 0-1 in the GPAC. Doane is on a deafening 7-dual losing streak. Most recently, the Tigers fell to Nebraska Wesleyan University (2-5) and Mount Marty (3-4). They will have a chance to break the streak on Monday against Baker University (Kan.) before facing the Bulldogs. The team from Crete is led by No. 1 Maria Purizaca Soto who has an impressive singles record (13-1) at the initial starting spot, making the top match set to be a good one. She also leads the team in doubles wins (nine).
Next week
Concordia will have a heavy three dual week starting next Monday (Apr. 15). The Bulldogs will host College of Saint Mary and Midland in Seward. Then the team will hit the road for the regular season finale against Hastings.