Bulldog women split, men fall in Fremont

FREMONT, Neb. – Head coach Sam Nelson’s Bulldogs traveled to Midland on Saturday to test their mettle against GPAC rivals. The Concordia women bounced back from a 7-2 morning loss to Morningside to win 7-2 over Mount Marty in a matinee battle. Meanwhile, the Bulldog men were shutout 9-0 by Morningside.

The Concordia women now sit at 7-3 overall and 2-1 in GPAC matches. The men dropped to 4-5 overall, 1-1 GPAC.

“We spoke to the girls about what they were doing wrong and they turned it around in the second match,” assistant coach James Ingrahm said. “That was the silver lining on the day.”

After only capturing wins at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles in the loss to Morningside, the Bulldog women fell lost only two singles matches (Nos. 1 and 2) in the win over the fledgling tennis program at Mount Marty.

Concordia showed depth in its lineup with dominant victories by Mikaela Barz at No. 5 singles (6-1, 6-0) and by Liz Kjellsen at No. 6 singles (6-1, 6-0). Barz and Kjellsen also breezed to an 8-1 triumph as a doubles combo at No. 3.

In addition, the No. 1 doubles team of Katelyn Koll and Lindsea Vaudt ran their win streak to four by capturing an 8-5 win against Morningside and then an 8-6 victory over their counterparts from Mount Marty. They improved their doubles record to 7-3 on the season.

The Bulldog men failed to take a single match from Morningside in their only bout of the day. However, Cole Egger (No. 2 singles), Mike McCartney (No. 3 singles) and Jonathan Douglas (No. 4 singles) all pushed their opponents hard in three-set losses.

Ingrahm came away particularly impressed with McCartney considering his play against solid competition on Saturday.

“I thought Mike faced his toughest test since the Bethany match,” Ingrahm said. “He stepped up and won the first set and had his chances in the second set before losing the tiebreak in the third. He kept the pressure on and really played well.”

Concordia also narrowly lost at No. 3 doubles where Morningside’s Hunter Renn and Dillon Stane staved off the Bulldogs’ pair of Douglas and Joe Vanderveld, 9-7.

The Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Nebraska Wesleyan for a men’s and women’s doubleheader. First serve is set for 4 p.m. in Lincoln.