ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Bulldogs battled No. 14 Missouri Baptist University on Saturday (March 7) but ultimately fell, 1-4, at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center. Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Tennis claimed a doubles match and picked up a singles victory, but the nationally ranked Spartans secured the points needed to take the dual.
Head Coach Lisa Hart and the Dawgs drop to 9-2 overall.
“I am really proud of the effort the team put out today,” Coach Hart said. “We came out with a lot of fight. Losing can turn out to be productive and make us a better team if we learn from it. We want to be at our best going into GPAC play. We are excited to start conference soon.”
Missouri Baptist grabbed the early advantage by winning two of the three doubles contests to claim the opening team point. At No. 2 doubles, Nick Velders and Daniel Caballeros provided the highlight for Concordia, defeating Strahinja Radanovic and Ruslan Anurev, 6-4. However, the Spartans earned 2-6 wins at both the No. 1 and No. 3 slots to take the doubles advantage.
In singles play, Ben Chisholm delivered the Bulldogs’ lone victory. Competing at No. 4 singles, Chisholm turned in a strong performance in a 6-4, 6-3 win over Arkhip Tokmakov to put Concordia on the board. The Australian is 7-3 in singles this season reaching his 20th career win as a sophomore.
The Bulldogs continued to drop the remaining points through the lineup. Fuentes dropped a 2-6, 0-6 decision to Luca Ebenriter at No. 1 singles, while Daniel Caballeros battled before falling to Ruslan Anurev, 4-6, 5-7, at the No. 3 position. The dual was clinched at No. 6 singles where Santiago Abadia was defeated by O. Farid, 4-6, 2-6.
Two other matches remained unfinished when the dual was decided. At No. 2 singles, Nick Velders had captured the opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7), and led the second set, 3-2, against Strahinja Radanovic. Meanwhile, Leo Lopez was locked in a three-set battle at No. 5 singles after winning the first set, 7-5, before the match was halted.
Concordia (9-2) will face Kansas Wesleyan University (3-2) tomorrow (March 8). The Bulldogs will first toss at 1 p.m. CT in Salina, Kan.