Sower sports roundup, March 22

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

If you missed Concordia University Nebraska sports this weekend, here is what happened.

The Concordia shooting team finished up their stint at the ACUI Collegiate Clay Target National Championships in San Antonio, Texas from March 18-22. The Bulldogs finished seventh in the event with a team score of 2,740. The team was beaten out by Great Plains Athletic Conference rival Midland University (2,820) and fellow National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics schools William Penn University and University of Tennessee Southern.

Senior Sam Blevins was the highest overall shooter for the team with a score of 545. Blevins had a 96 in skeet, 99 in trap, 90 in doubles skeet, 93 in doubles trap, 81 in sporting clays and 86 in super sporting. Their final event of the season will be the Concordia Bulldog International Tournament in Grand Island from April 12-13.

The Concordia softball team began its GPAC season with a split double header against the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers in Mitchell, S.D. on March 22. Concordia lost the first game 3-2 and won the second 10-8. They are now 16-8 overall and 1-1 in the GPAC. Their next games will be a double header against Hastings College on March 26.

The Bulldogs kept their game one hopes alive after going down two runs in the third inning with an RBI double from senior Delanie Voshell in the fourth and a run off a poor pass from senior Aubrey Bruning in the seventh to tie. Dakota Wesleyan took the game with a walk-off home run to start off extra innings. Senior Megan Eurich was the lone pitcher for the game going six hits for three runs with six strikeouts.

Concordia started off game two stacking up runs after runs. The Bulldogs had four in the first, two in the second, three in the third and one in the fourth. The Tigers took control in the back half and threatened to take the lead. Their efforts were stopped by a Concordia pitching change. Sophomore Kaylei Denison was the pitcher credited with the win, going 5.1 innings with 12 hits for six runs and one strikeout. Eurich finished out the last 1.2 innings going three hits for two runs with one strikeout.

The Concordia tennis teams traveled to Salina, Kan. to face the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes and the Avila University Eagles on March 22. The women swept both of their matches 7-0 putting their record at 9-1. The men beat the Coyotes 6-1 and the Eagles 7-0 taking their record to 8-5. Both teams come home for their next game on March 23 to start off their GPAC season against Mount Marty University in the Walz Fieldhouse.

For the women, the most competitive match of the day was the No. 5 matchup between sophomore Alexa Richert and Kansas Wesleyan Eliza Camp where Richert came back from an 0-6 first set to win the next two 6-1 and 10-2. The rest of the matches were won in two sets by the Bulldogs.

For the men, the most competitive match was the No. 4 match between sophomore Joseph Melzer and Kansas Wesleyan Jacob Phelps where Melzer fell 6-1, 7-6 (9-7). Concordia had swept the doubles point but struggled in that No. 2 match which included Phelps going 7-6 (7-4).