Head Coach: Lisa Hart (3rd season at Concordia; 24th season overall as a college head coach)
2024-25 record: 17-5 overall, 4-2 GPAC (3rd); GPAC tournament champions; NAIA national qualifier.
Key returners: Chakira Derman (Sr.); Ishane Derman (So.); Lauren Gottberg (Sr.); Alana Lopez Pagan (Sr.); Nina Milic (So.); Mariana Molano (Sr.); Alexa Richert (Jr.).
Key loss: Tessa Blough.
Key Newcomers: Jacey Powell.
2025 GPAC All-Conference: Tessa Blough (Doubles); Chakira Derman (Singles); Ishane Derman (Singles / Doubles); Mariana Molano (Singles / Doubles); Alexa Richert (Singles / Doubles).
Outlook
The 2026 Bulldogs are tasked with following up arguably the greatest season in the history of Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Tennis. This past April 26, Head Coach Lisa Hart’s squad basked in the program’s first ever GPAC tournament championship before reveling in the opportunity to appear at the NAIA National Championships – also a first. The list of achievements also included a school record 17 dual wins.
All of that occurred in just Hart’s second season leading the Bulldog tennis programs. Hart now enters her 24th season overall as a collegiate head coach having also guided the programs at Virginia Tech and Washington State University.
“It was really exciting,” said Hart of last season’s grand accomplishments. “I was really proud of our players. It was fun to win the GPAC tournament and get to experience nationals. I think it has made our team hungry for more and hungry to do it again. That was a fun way to end the year for sure.”
In another sign of the program’s immense progress, Concordia received votes in this preseason’s NAIA coaches’ poll. The standard has been raised, and the Bulldogs have every reason to believe that 2026 can be even better. Concordia returns all six singles players who made up the lineup in last season’s GPAC Championship Match. The lone departure from the historic 2024-25 team is Tessa Blough, an influential leader who won the 2024 ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award within the NAIA division.
No doubt Blough will be missed, but the roster is well-stocked with talent. At the top of the lineup, Hart will lean upon the likes of senior Mariana Molano and junior Chakira Derman. With 40 career singles wins to her credit, Molano (Bogotá, Colombia) is on the cusp of breaking the school career record (of 43 by Taylor Cook). Meanwhile, Derman (Togo, Africa) won 17 singles matches in her second season as a Bulldog.
Currently ranked as the NAIA’s No. 31 singles player by the ITA, Molano is expected to be in the running for GPAC Player of the Year accolades. Said Hart, “I think Mariana is playing her very best tennis right now. She is a huge key for our team. I assume she’ll break every record at our school. We’re extremely fortunate to have her. A lot of teams have good players, but it’s hard to have a real No. 1 player. I feel like she’s the best player in the conference. Personally, I think she should be top 20 in the ITA national rankings. I’m excited about her. She came back playing her best tennis after Christmas. We’re excited to see what she can do the next couple months.”
Concordia opened the 2025-26 season back in the fall and earned dual wins over two NCAA Division III opponents: Wartburg College (Iowa) and Nebraska Wesleyan University. In the most recent victory, Molano and Chakira Derman were followed in the singles lineup by (in order) senior Alana Lopez Pagan, sophomore Ishane Derman, junior Alexa Richert and sophomore Nina Milic. Those six Bulldogs combined for a singles record of 76-20 in 2024-25. Individual single season school records were broken last season by Ishane Derman for singles wins (18) and by Richert for doubles wins (15).
The group of returners also includes senior Lauren Gottberg and junior Mia Golka. With so many familiar faces back in the fold, Concordia was able to hit the ground running when the fall semester began back in August. Lopez Pagan sees a team with strong chemistry and says that the freshmen have added positivity and energy. Lopez Pagan has put together a fine career of her own with 33 career singles wins.
Said Lopez Pagan of the early returns from the fall portion of the season, “Our family was reunited. It was really about seeing how we fit together with the new people coming in. There’s a lot of positivity and energy. It really felt good to be back … We’ve talked about putting in the effort and going day by day. That will help us get to where we want to be at.”
The list of newcomers includes Concordia University Ann Arbor transfer Jacey Powell, the younger sister of former Bulldog women’s basketball standout Sadie Powell. Jacey was part of the doubles lineup versus Wartburg in the fall. The roster also features three freshmen in Mia Hume, Audrey Kuhn and Erin Norby.
It all adds up to a well-rounded roster that Hart expects to excel across all areas of what it means to be a Concordia student-athlete. As Hart explains, “We always say – on the court, in the classroom and in the community. Last year, both teams won the community service award for our region (from the ITA). We want to do that again. I think it’s really important to give back and serve others. Those are lessons that go way beyond the court. Academically, both teams did really well in the fall. That’s something we want to keep striving to do.”
On the court, Concordia appears to be positioned better than it ever has in the program’s history. Hart and company are not coy about what their expectations are heading into the spring. There are still aspirations yet to be realized for the current group of Bulldogs. Regular season losses to Morningside and Doane prevented Concordia from winning the 2025 GPAC regular season title. The Bulldogs would love to unseat the Mustangs (No. 25 in the NAIA preseason poll) and take home conference regular season and tournament trophies.
Said Hart, “We’re very, very talented. It’s going to be about staying healthy and getting everyone on the same page. Pulling in the same direction is going to be very important. I think we can beat anybody on the right day. We’ll take it day by day and put the work in … On the court, just to be blunt, we want to win the GPAC on both sides and we’d like to go to nationals.”
Last season’s trip to Mobile, Ala., site of the NAIA Tennis National Championships, provided Concordia with a feel for what it’s like to compete at the highest level. The Bulldogs were defeated by No. 13 Marian University, 4-0, in the first round. That experience should serve Concordia well as it prepares to begin the spring against an NCAA Division I opponent, the University of Nebraska Omaha on Friday (Jan. 23). Hart has been looking to challenge her players while increasing the difficulty in the nonconference portion of the schedule.
When it comes time for GPAC competition in late March, the Bulldogs will be ready. “I think everyone continues to develop,” Hart said. “That’s what we’re trying to really keep the focus on – getting better every day and playing our best tennis when it really matters at the end of the year.”
The complete 2025-26 Concordia Women’s Tennis schedule can be found HERE. The Bulldogs are scheduled to make their first home appearance of the spring semester on Feb. 7 versus Sterling College (Kan.).