SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia Women’s Tennis team enters their final week of regular season play, featuring three duals in six days. Bulldog Tennis Courts will host the first two matches between the College of Saint Mary and Midland. The Dawgs will go west for their last dual against Hastings on Saturday (Apr. 20). Lisa Hart’s squad took care of Doane with ease in a 6-1 near-shutout triumph. Concordia stands at 8-6 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
This Week
Monday, April 15 vs College of Saint Mary (7-8, 1-4 GPAC), 5 p.m.
--Location: Bulldog Tennis Courts (Seward, Neb.)
Wednesday, April 17 vs Midland (10-5, 4-0 GPAC), 4:30 p.m.
--Location: Bulldog Tennis Courts (Seward, Neb.)
Saturday, April 20 at Hastings (9-11, 2-3 GPAC), 11 a.m.
--Location: Dorothy R. Becker Tennis Facility (Hastings, Neb.)
By the numbers
· The Dawgs came out with a will to win in Crete, taking all three doubles sets and three of the first four points in the win over Doane. In the five singles wins, the visitors outscored the Tigers 60-15 in single games. All three doubles teams hit six games before their opponents, but No. 3s Alexa Richert and Gabrielle Heiser kept rolling from their previous match to a 6-2 set. All the singles winners came in straight-set victories with the lineups set at No. 2 Chakira Derman, No. 3 Alana Lopez-Pagan, No. 4 Tessa Blough, No. 5 Richert and No. 6 Kylie Freudenburg.
· The Bulldog Blue and white have bested 43 individual singles matches and 20 doubles through 14 duals. Molano (eight) and Lopez-Pagan (eight) have collected the most triumphs in singles, with Richert (seven) not far behind. Molano, the sophomore out of Bogotá, Colombia, has been undefeated (4-0) at the No. 2 slot and 4-4 at No. 1. The pair, Lopez-Pagan and Molano, have the most wins as a duo (six) plus Derman and Gottberg are unbeaten (2-0) in a couple of times they have been put together. Blough and Derman are second in doubles wins with a 4-6 record when paired 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 (4-0) in conference play. Finding consistency as of late, she and Gabrielle Heiser were able to get their first win as a doubles duo in the dual against Northwestern and are 2-1 currently. The Gillette, Wyo., native seems to get stronger as the match continues, winning her second set 6-0 in five of her seven singles victories.
· The records for the upcoming opponents are 7-8,1-4 GPAC (CSM), 10-5, 4-0 GPAC (Midland) and 9-11, 2-3 GPAC (Hastings). The Flames’ Renee Acena has led the team in No. 1 singles with a record of 2-2 in the past four matches. The Warriors are led by No. 1 Ari Lumanog, and she has a 3-1 record with her only loss in the last four coming from Creighton University. Josline Carter competes at No. 1 for the Broncos and her win against Mount Marty sealed the 4-3 win over the Lancers.
· With the GPAC tournament looming, this will be the final week to move up or down the conference leaderboard. Currently, Morningside (5-0) and Midland (4-0) are the only teams undefeated in the conference. The Bulldogs sit in third with a 3-1 record, while their upcoming opponent, Hastings (2-3), is in fourth. The bottom of the league is as follows: Northwestern (2-4), Mount Marty (1-3), CSM (1-4) and Doane (1-4).
Next week
Concordia will look forward to the GPAC championships hosted in Sioux City, Iowa by Morningside on Apr. 25-27. The tournament will be held at the Mason Family Tennis Complex.