Tennis defeated by Morningside
Photo description: Santiago Abadia prepares to return the ball across the net with a backhand stroke
Photo credit: Kayla Korb
Madeline Peters
Sower Staff
The Concordia women’s and men’s tennis teams competed against the Morningside University Mustangs Saturday afternoon and evening. Both teams lost 6-1 to the Mustangs, each scoring their one point in a singles match-up.
The doubles teams for the women were made up of sophomore Tessa Blough and freshman Alana Lopez Pagan, freshman Mariana Molano and junior Tara Ferrel and freshmen Ella Dean and Gabrielle Heiser. Blough and Lopez Pagan won their match 6-3, but the other two lost 6-3, giving the doubles point to Morningside.
Blough also scored the one point for the women, winning her match 7-5 and 6-4 over the Mustangs’ Emily Clotfelter. Molano and Dean fought hard in their matches, narrowly losing in three sets. Heiser did not compete in the singles matches and was replaced by sophomore Brooke Hosick.
The doubles teams for the men, meanwhile, were freshman Thomas Van Haaren and junior Juan Rabellino, freshman Hugo Fuentes and sophomore Shawn Springer and junior Eduardo Rojas and freshman Santiago Abadia. Fuentes and Springer won their match 6-4. Rabellino and Van Haaren lost 6-3 and Rojas and Abadia lost 6-2, once again giving the doubles point to Morningside.
Van Haaren did not participate in the singles matches and was replaced by sophomore Manuel Rodriguez. He won the one point for the men, beating Abhishek Mohapatra 6-0, 4-6 and 6-4. The men also fought hard during their singles with long matches, some even lasting close to two hours. Fuentes, for example, narrowly lost his sets 7-6 and 6-4. Abadia, who was recently voted Great Plains Athletic Conference athlete of the week, lost his sets 6-4 and 6-3.
There was hope around the matches on Saturday, especially following the sweep from the previous week. Observer Daisy Cody confidently commented at the beginning of the women’s matches, “We always come out on top!”
Coach Cam Long thought the teams did their best despite their losses, saying, “I thought the women played really well. I think Morningside has been near the top of the conference [the] last two years, so we played them pretty tough up and down the line even though we only got one win. The men played alright; obviously [there are] some things we can work on. We’re a good team, but they were just a little better today.”
The women are 8-6 overall and 1-1 in the GPAC. The men are 7-6 overall and also 1-1 in the GPAC. The women play again on April 4 against Doane University starting at 4:30 p.m. The men also play Doane at 4:30 p.m., but on April 5.
