Concordia sports roundup, Feb. 9-11
By Maddy Peters, Sports Editor
If you missed Concordia University Nebraska sports this weekend, here is what happened.
Cheer and dance participated in two events over the past weekend. They went to York University for their annual invitation on Feb. 9 and hosted the Concordia University Day of Duals on Feb. 10. In York, Cheer won third while dance placed fifth. Cheer had a score of 75.02 and dance scored 76.77. Dance competition was especially tight with the top three schools scoring in the eighties—something the team has struggled to be consistent with.
At the Day of Duals, Cheer placed fifth with a total score of 164.6 scoring 80.47 in the first round and 84.13 in the second, setting a new school record. Dance, meanwhile, placed sixth with a total of 161.33. Fierce Great Plains Athletic Conference rivals like Midland University and Northwestern College were difficult teams for cheer and dance to contend with along with Grand View University, who competed in York as well.
The Concordia baseball team started off their season with a series of three games in Oklahoma City over the weekend. They played the Oklahoma City University Stars and the Bellevue University Bruins on Feb. 9 and then played another game against the Stars on the 10. The Bulldogs lost to Oklahoma City 6-5 on Feb. 9, lost 12-7 to the Bruins, and came back on Feb. 10 to beat the Stars 11-1. Their record stands at 1-2.
Freshman Matthew Rhoades and senior Bradley Hallock were the names to watch. Rhoades started off his college career with two homers in the first game against Oklahoma City and recorded five RBIs. Hallock scored one homer in the first game and one in the second and ended with four total RBIs. Junior Jaiden Quinn also scored a home run against the Bruins, signaling another hard-hitting season after going toe-to-toe with senior teammate Joey Grabanski for most homers in a season.
Softball also started off their season with two losses to the Ottawa University Braves in a double header on Feb. 10 in Ottawa, Kan. The first game with 8-0 and the second 10-2. Juniors Kylie Shottenkirk and Zoie Isom were the lone scorers over the weekend. Shottenkirk scored off a single from fellow junior Aubrey Brunning who singled to the pitcher and Isom scored off a sacrifice fly from junior Hannah Bowers. The current record is 0-2.
Men and women’s tennis began their spring season over the weekend as well with matches between the Mount Marty University Lancers on Feb. 9 in Yankton, S.D. and the Baker University Wildcats on Feb. 10 in Fremont. The women won both of their matches 6-1 while the men loss to Mount Mary 7-0 but beat Baker 5-2. The women now have a 2-1 record, 1-0 in the GPAC and the men have a 1-2 record with a 0-1 in the GPAC.
Against Mount Marty, sophomores Mariana Molano and Alana Lopez Pagan and freshman Alexa Richert won their singles matches while freshman Chakira Derman lost. The last two singles points went to Concordia by forfeit. The women also eked out the doubles point with a win and a forfeit from Mount Marty. Baker also failed to supply a full team for the Bulldogs to compete against, so there were two more forfeits and a surefire doubles point. Molano and Lopez Pagan won their matches again alongside junior Tessa Blough. Derman lost a much closer match, going to a third tie-breaking round.
The men had a rough set of matches against the Lancers and failed to win a single game, even in the doubles competition. Competition went much better against the Wildcats. They swept the doubles competition, and sophomore Santiago Abadia, freshman Michael Bedrosian, and junior Manuel Rodriguez Berdud each won their singles matches. The last point for the men came from a forfeit.
Basketball continued its season against the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers on Feb. 11 up in Mitchell, S.D. The women lost 83-75 while the men won 95-79. The women are now 20-4 overall and 14-4 in the GPAC while the men are 19-5 overall and 12-4 in the GPAC.
Dakota Wesleyan took an early lead against the Concordia women and did not let it go. The Bulldog defense and offense were unable to keep up with the Tigers. Junior Taysha Rushton was the top scorer of the night with 19 points. Fellow juniors Sadie Powell and Abby Krieser and senior Mackenzie Toomey also hit double digits with 16, 14 and 10 points respectively. All four players mentioned above also led the team in rebounds with five apiece. Rushton led in assists with three.
The men, meanwhile, flipped the script of the women’s game and took charge over Dakota Wesleyan. It stayed even until halfway through the first half where the Bulldogs took the lead and held off the Tigers for the rest of the game. Junior Bradley Bennett was the top scorer of the night with a whopping 26 points. Junior Tristan Smith, freshman Lukas Helms and junior Noah Schutte also hit double digits with 18, 14 and 12 points respectively. Smith led in rebounds with 11 and assists with six.
