SEWARD, Neb. – In the team’s first action since this past October, the Concordia University Men’s Tennis team opened the spring portion of the season by hosting NCAA Division III Colorado College on Saturday (Feb. 19). The Bulldogs swept through doubles before the Tigers rebounded to win five of the six singles matches. The result was a 5-2 team win for Colorado College. The contest took place inside the Walz Fieldhouse.
Head Coach Cam Long’s squad is now 0-3 while taking on a difficult nonconference slate. Concordia fell in the fall at the hands of Iowa Central Community College and William Jewell College (Mo.).
Said Long, “We came out on fire in doubles. We were very aggressive from the start and had Colorado College on its heels a little. They rest and settled down in singles play. We fought and held on as long as we could, but couldn’t quite stop their comeback once they got the momentum. We learned a lot of things and got better today. We’ll be back ready to go Wednesday.”
The victorious doubles combos for Concordia included Eduardo Luzzi and Juan Rabellino at No. 1, Eduardo Rojas and Jack Kitson at No. 2 and Joe Bindl and Jeremiah Berryman at No. 3. The respective scores were 7-6, 6-4 and 6-4. It was a 2-0 day for Kitson, who also outlasted Nate Beerman in a tiebreaker at No. 5 singles.
Long’s singles lineup also featured Luzzi at No. 1, Isaac Howes at No. 2, Rojas at No. 3, Shawn Springer at No. 4 and Bindl at No. 6. Springer was involved in a close battle that went to his counterpart, 7-5, 6-4. After dropping the first set, Howes fell in the second, 7-5, in another heated contest. As part of its weekend in Nebraska, Colorado College (2-2) was defeated at Midland on Friday, 5-2.
The Bulldogs will take to the road for the first time this spring when they play at Grand View University (Iowa) at 11 a.m. CT on Wednesday. The two sides last met up in February 2020 with the result being a 6-1 victory for the Vikings.