SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia Women’s Tennis comes into the week with a two match win streak and a huge victory to start off conference play. The Bulldogs will travel to face Midland in their final non-conference dual of the season on Saturday (Mar. 16). The two teams are set for the first toss at 11 a.m. CT inside the Fremont Family YMCA. Concordia defeated an extremely talented Iowa Central Community College (4-3) and then shutout Mount Marty in Lincoln, Neb. Head Coach Lisa Hart’s squad keeps fighting to stay above .500 with a 6-4overall record and 1-0 in the conference.
This Week
Saturday, March 16 at Midland (6-3), 11 a.m.
--Location: Fremont YMCA (Fremont, Neb.)
By the numbers
· The Bulldogs have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride, unable to string more than two dual wins in a row. The first pair of wins came against Mount Marty (6-1) in a non-conference match and Baker University (Kan.) in a 6-1 win. Two of their losses came from NCAA Division II opponents but Concordia forged on defeating Kansas Wesleyan University (5-2) and University of Saint Mary (Kan.), 5-2.
· Most recently, the Dawgs swung through the Lancers, blanking the team (7-0) out of South Dakota. The team wins came from No.1s Mariana Molano and Alana Lopez-Pagan and No. 2s Chakira Derman and Lauren Gottberg. In singles, No. 1 Molano, No. 2 Lopez-Pagan, No. 3 Alexa Richert and No. 4 Brooke Hosick all were on the side of victory at the Woods Tennis Center. Mount Marty had open positions at its last two spots.
· The Bulldog blue and white have bested 31 individual singles matches and 14 doubles though 10 duals. Lopez-Pagan (seven) and Molano (six) have collected the most triumphs in singles, with Richert (four) not far behind. Molano, the sophomore out of Bogotá, Colombia, has been undefeated (4-0) at the No. 2 slot. The pair, Lopez-Pagan and Molano, have the most wins as a duo (four) plus Derman and Gottberg are unbeaten (2-0) in the couple of times they have been put together.
· Midland will be a tough out as the returning GPAC champions from a season ago. Coming into the matchup with a 6-3 record, they have lost two out of their last three in tough duals against McPherson College (Kan.) and NCAA Division II’s Colorado College. The Warriors return starting veterans Ari Lumanog (No. 1), Grace Felder, Laine Fanton and Grazi Dallagnol. Felder, out of Lincoln, Neb., paces the team with six singles victories so far this season. Key losses were clutch veterans Ivett Castaneda and Kristina Khmelevskaia.
Next week
Next weekend Concordia will continue conference play competing against Morningside on Saturday (Mar. 23) in Sioux City, Iowa. After, the Bulldogs will have conference matches for the duration of the regular season that includes five more duals, three of which are at home.