SEWARD, Neb. – Not since Feb. 25 had the Concordia University Men’s Tennis team tasted defeat. However, the win streak concluded on Saturday (April 1) as visiting Morningside dealt the Bulldogs a 6-1 loss on a sunny spring afternoon in Seward, Neb. A new-look Mustang squad won five of six singles and two of three doubles matches in cooling off Concordia.
Head Coach Cam Long’s squad slipped to 7-6 overall (1-1 GPAC). The loss came after the Bulldogs went a perfect 5-0 during the month of March.
One streak did continue on Saturday as Manuel Rodriguez managed to capture his eighth singles victory in a row. The sophomore from Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, defeated Abhishek Mohapatra, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4, in a three-seat clash. That result prevented a potential shutout in the team scoring. Morningside ran away with the win with the help of tight first-set decisions at the Nos. 1 and 3 singles spots, held down in the Concordia lineup by Hugo Fuentes and Eduardo Rojas, respectively. The rest of the Bulldog singles lineup included Santiago Abadia at No. 2, Shawn Springer at No. 3 and Juan Rabellino at No. 6.
The positive result for the Bulldogs in doubles came from the duo of Fuentes and Spring at No. 2. They won by score of 6-4 over Eduard Cardelus and Maza Martin. Morningside triumphed at No. 1, 6-3, and at No. 3, 6-2. Those spots were manned by Concordia competitors in Rabellino and Thomas Van Haaren and Abadia and Rojas.
Morningside (11-5, 1-0 GPAC) appears poised to make a jump within the GPAC after it placed in a tie for fourth in 2022 (2-4 in the conference). The Mustangs lead all GPAC teams in terms of overall victories and have won four matches in a row.
GPAC action will continue on Wednesday when the Bulldogs will welcome rival Doane (6-10, 2-0 GPAC) to town for a 4:30 p.m. CT first serve. Concordia will attempt to reverse last year’s results versus the Tigers, who won both meetings – 5-2 in the regular season and 4-1 in the GPAC tournament semifinals.