NAIA National Release | NAIA Women’s Tennis National Championship Bracket
SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Tennis earned its first automatic team bid in the program’s history and learned of the NAIA Women’s Tennis Championships draw on Tuesday (April 29). The Bulldogs are set to face No. 13 Marian University (Ind.) in the first-round showdown of the 44th-annual nationals tournament in Mobile, Ala. The championships will be held at the Mobile Tennis Center between May 13-17.
The teams are made up of 14 automatic berths, and ten at-large selections for 24 squads in total. CUNE earned the No. 22 seed, while the Knights earned the No. 11 seed. Neither team has ever been to the national tournament.
Concordia earned the automatic slot after defeating Morningside in the GPAC championship (4-2). Earning the No. 3 seed in the postseason tournament with a 4-2 regular season conference record, the Bulldogs defeated No. 6 seed College of Saint Mary (4-0) and won a revenge loss over No. 2 seed Doane (4-1). CUNE defeated both teams in the Mustangs and Tigers which beat it in the regular season contests.
The Dawgs achieved a record-breaking 17 wins and only four losses in the 2025 campaign. Playing their best tennis to date, Head Coach Lisa Hart and company had their best wins in the GPAC tournament and defeated conference foes CSM, Hastings, Mount Marty, and Northwestern. The only two non-conference match losses came against national qualifier McPherson College (Kan.) and NCAA Division II’s Fort Hays State University (Kan.).
Led by single-season singles win leader Ishane Derman (18-2), the Bulldogs have a deep lineup with double-digit wins: Chakira Derman (17), Mariana Molano (14), Alexa Richert (14) and Alana Lopez Pagan (13).
Marian, out of the Crossroads League, earned an at-large bid with a 14-8 overall record and a 7-1 conference showing.
Concordia will face off against Marian on Tuesday (May 13) at 9 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT. The winner is set to take on No. 6 seed Loyola University New Orleans (La.), which received a first-round bye.