SEWARD, Neb. – Unlike the victory over Northwestern three days ago, the Concordia University Women’s Tennis team came up a bit short in the close matches. The result on Tuesday (April 5) was a 5-2 home loss that came at the hands of College of Saint Mary. On a positive note for the Bulldogs, Sofia Morales kept up her winning ways at No. 1 singles while Tara Ferrel picked up victories in both doubles and singles.
Head Coach Cam Long’s squad entered this week having won back-to-back GPAC matches. Concordia now stands at 4-8 overall (2-2 GPAC).
“As a team, CSM just didn’t make very many errors,” Long said. “We won a lot of points, but we didn’t a lot of deuce points or points in tiebreakers. We needed to win more of those points in big moments. If we had done that, it could have flipped our way. We played well in those situations on Saturday (April 2).”
The Flames (6-3, 2-1 GPAC) forged in front after doubles with victories coming at the Nos. 1 and 3 positions by respective scores of 6-3 and 6-1. As part of a standout performance Ferrel teamed up with Megan Hakes on a 6-2 triumph at No. 2 doubles.
In singles play, the Lincoln native Ferrel rebounded impressively after dropping the first set and won at No. 3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Meanwhile, Morales breezed to a 6-0, 6-0, win at No. 1 and is now 4-0 this season in GPAC singles matches.
Said Long, “Tara really took over the net and had a lot of big volleys and overheads. Singles-wise, she kind of did the same thing. She had an opponent that liked to stay back at the baseline and tried to grind it out in the first set. Tara started being more aggressive and won sets two and three pretty easily. It was good to see her flip the momentum and be strong all day … Sofia just played well today. She’s having a good year.”
However, CSM emerged with the team win by pulling out close matches at Nos. 2, 4 and 5 singles. At the No. 5 spot, Concordia’s Megan Hakes won the first set before slipping, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. The Flames picked up their second conference win in a row and did so despite the absence of 2021 GPAC Player of the Year Renee Acena.
Next up on the slate will be Saturday’s home matchup with conference leading Midland (14-3, 3-0 GPAC). First serve is set for 11 a.m. CT from the Bulldog Tennis Courts. A year ago, the Bulldogs squeaked by the Warriors, 4-3, in Fremont. Originally, Concordia was scheduled to be at Hastings on Wednesday, but strong winds in the forecast postponed that match until next Wednesday (April 13).