LINCOLN, Neb. – The Concordia University men’s tennis team got on the board with its first victory of 2020 while sweeping through doubles and singles in Friday (Feb. 21) action. While entertaining Sterling College (Kan.) inside Genesis Health Club in Lincoln, Neb., the Bulldogs picked up a 7-0 win while holding off the Warriors in highly contested matches at Nos. 1 and 2 singles.
Second-year head coach David DeSimone’s squad got into the W column after beginning the campaign with losses to William Jewell College (Mo.) and Grand View University (Iowa).
“It was good for them to get a win today,” DeSimone said. “We weren’t perfect, but did enough to win in each match. Our guys put pressure on them in different ways. The positive is that it wasn’t our best tennis, but we were still able to find ways to come out on top. There’s a lot we can improve upon.”
Concordia jumped on their Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference foe in doubles with triumphs by the duos of senior Luke Zoller and junior Jeremy Berryman at No. 1, sophomore Jack Kitson and freshman Eduardo Rojas at No. 2 and sophomores Joseph Bindl and Isaac Howes at No. 3. Five of those six individuals were also part of the singles lineup.
At the top in singles, Zoller (No. 1) and Berryman (No. 2) faced challenging battles. Both standout Bulldogs wound up winning their matches in third-set tiebreakers. The rest of the singles contests were not quite as dramatic. In the three through six spots, Rojas, Howes, Kitson and senior Josh Miller emerged victorious.
Sterling also took on a GPAC school in Midland on Thursday. The result on Friday was similar to the one that occurred a year ago when the Bulldogs defeated the Warriors, 8-1, in Seward.
Next up, the Bulldogs will head to Bethel College for a 10 a.m. CT first serve in North Newton, Kan., on Saturday, Feb. 29.