Bulldogs split with KWU in women’s, men’s doubleheader

By Taylor Mueller, Sports Information Assistant

SEWARD, Neb. – As the season continues to unfold, the men’s and women’s tennis teams squared off against Kansas Wesleyan in doubleheader action. It was a bittersweet night for Concordia, however, as the women rolled, while the men’s squad fell just short.

The women’s tennis squad notched their second victory of the season, winning five of six singles competitions and one doubles match en route to a convincing 6-3 overall victory over the coyotes.    

Standout senior Lindsea Vaudt had a busy night, besting Tia Irwin in a hotly contested match, 7-6, 6-7, 10-8.  

“I came out strong in the first set and ended up winning that tie-breaker, and the next one, (I) ended up losing,” Vaudt said. “I was down a lot and I knew I had to get back up. I just focused and got my serves in and finished the points.”

In their closely contested doubles match, Vaudt, along with junior Katelyn Koll came out on top to win 8-6.

“I love playing with Katelyn,” Vaudt said. “We’ve been playing together for three years now and it’s been a lot of fun. We just work really well together. We talk well together and I can always rely on her to have my back in everything and I always have her back. It’s been really great. We work well as a team.”

The Bulldogs took care of business in the singles matches as well, as Koll, sophomore Grace Hollenbeck, sophomore Elyse Kohl and sernior Mikaela Barz were all winners.

Head Coach Amy Harms shared her thoughts on the women’s performance.  

“We started down 1-2 after doubles and the girls just kind of refocused after that and really got it done in singles,” Harms said. “We had Elyse Kohl in a third set tie-break, we had Lindsea in a tie-break for both sets and then the super tie-breaker.”

Harms added that while she was pleases with what she saw, there is still room to improve.

“We had a good performance in singles,” Harms said. “There’s a lot of stuff we need to work on in doubles and just getting used to playing together. Our doubles combinations are pretty new this year…so we’ve got some stuff to work on.”

On the men’s side, senior Cole Egger defeated Fernando Soto in three sets, 6-4, 6-7, 10-6, while sophomore Jonathon Douglas beat Scott Weber, 6-2, 6-0.

The Bulldogs mounted a comeback in the doubles matches, taking two of three, but it wasn’t enough to knock off Kansas Wesleyan.

Egger and junior Nathan Wingfield teamed up to take their match 8-3, while Douglas and junior Joe Vanderveld won their match 8-5.  

“I’m really happy with our doubles,” Harms said. “I think our doubles teams are only going to get tougher. Nathan and Cole really excelled again. Number three doubles was really fun to watch. J.D. and Joe are becoming a really good team. They did some really good things tactically and with positioning on the court that I was really happy to see.”

As the season progresses, Vaudt sees a bright future for the Bulldog squads.

“I feel like we’re all getting so much better and improving so much,” Vaudt said. “We’re just working hard.”

Concordia hits the courts again when they host Tabor College on Saturday.

“Tabor is usually a solid tennis program,” Harms said. “I know the women’s beat us 0-9 last year so we should expect to have to compete with them hard. They’re always solid and we’ll just have to see what we can do.”