SEWARD, Neb. – The Bulldogs hosted their first dual of the 2023 fall season versus Mount Marty on Tuesday (Oct. 3). Concordia fought hard but fell in three heartbreaking tiebreak sets (one double and two singles), which allowed the Lancers to claim the victory (6-1). Due to anticipated weather, the dual was moved into the Walz Fieldhouse and moved to an earlier time.
No. 3s Luke Johson and Mitch Krumm powered through Ignacio Gomez and Keaton List (6-4) to take an early doubles set. With No. 2s Michael Bedosian and Manuel Rodriguez falling to Mount Marty, the Dawgs needed the last set to seal the doubles point. Hugo Fuentes and Santi Abadia at No. 1s, battled Gonzalo Medina and Alexander Makarov to the bitter end of a 7-6 (8-6 tiebreak).
Bedrosian cruised past Medina in a 6-2, 6-2 singles triumph at No. 4. With the statement win the score was back to an even match (1-1). No. 1 Fuentes lost the first set (4-6) to Makarov but roared back with a big set win (6-2). Needing to settle the match in a tiebreak, Marakov exhaustedly took the favorable result (11-9) for the Lancers. Manuel Rodriguez at No. 3 also needed a tiebreak after a 6-2, 2-6 draw between him and Alejandro Polo. The two scrambled for the match victory, as Polo came out on top for Mount Marty in the third tiebreak in a row.
Down 1-3, the Bulldogs needed to pull together wins but were unable to find the points in their final matches. The final three fell in straight sets, starting with Abadia (1-6, 2-6), Johnson (3-6, 3-6), and ending with Krumm (3-6, 6-7).
Concordia plans to travel to Division II William Jewell College for their final fall dual on Saturday (Oct. 7). The match will be held at Bennet Park starting at 12 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs have only bested the Cardinals once (2020), claiming a 4-3 victory on the road.