Sower sports roundup, April 12

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

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

The Concordia women’s tennis team faced the Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves on April 10 winning 6-1 against the Division III school in Lincoln. This respite from conference play puts the Bulldogs at 14-2 overall with a return to Great Plains Athletic Conference play on April 15 against Doane University in Seward.

Although the overall result shows a dominant win over Nebraska Wesleyan, many of the games were hard fought. Concordia’s lone loss came in the No. 6 match between freshman Nina Milic and Prairie Wolf Gracey Smith. Milic lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

Meanwhile, the No. 1 and No. 5 matches demonstrated the grit of the women’s team. Junior Mariana Molano in the No. 1 slot overcame Prairie Wolf Anna Burt going 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. Sophomore Alexa Richert in the No. 5 spot pulled off a comeback winning 3-6, 6-1, 10-4.

The Concordia men’s tennis team was in action that next day on April 11 against the Midland University Warriors suffering a narrow 4-3 loss in Fremont. The team is now 11-7 overall and 3-2 in the GPAC. They next face Doane in Seward on April 16.

The loss ultimately came down to the doubles point. Concordia split the singles matches with freshman Ben Chisholm winning 6-0, 6-4, senior Grady Works winning 6-3, 6-2 and sophomore Michael Bedrosian winning off a mid round forfeit. Concordia won the No. 2 doubles match with a team of Chisholm and junior Santiago Abadia winning 6-1, but the Bulldogs were unable to take the other doubles matches.

Abadia’s win tied the single season doubles win record at 14. The record has been in place since 1992-93 set by Glen Glutz and Concordia tennis legend Tim Marshall. Junior Nick Velders nearly took the single season singles win record with his match going 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Concordia Softball had a busy weekend with back to back doubleheaders playing the Doane University Tigers in Crete on April 11 and then the Waldorf University Warriors on April 12 in Seward. The Bulldogs split their Doane games losing the first 2-0, but winning the second 5-4. Concordia swept Waldorf, however, winning the first 8-0 and the second 2-1. The team is now 23-15 overall and 8-8 in the GPAC. They next face Dordt University on April 15 in Seward.

Game one remained scoreless for most of the game with Doane scoring both of its points in the sixth inning. Concordia only had four hits in the game each from different players. Senior Megan Eurich was the lone pitcher for Concordia in the game. She had four hits for two runs and three strikeouts.

Game two demonstrated more Bulldog offense in a close match against Concordia’s rival. The two teams matched each other for much of the game. Concordia and Doane scored one run in the first, Concordia put up three in the second and Doane responded with three runs of their own in the third. The game winning run came from senior Aubrey Bruning who scored off an error from Doane’s catcher.

Sophomore Kaylei Denison was the starting pitcher for the Bulldogs going 4.1 innings with five hits for four runs and no strikeouts. Eurich closed out the game taking the last 2.2 innings with one hit and no runs and one strikeout. Denison notched the win, but Eurich recorded a save.

Game one against Waldorf was not won by great hitting, though there were some great shots, but by poor defense from the Warriors. Waldorf recorded six errors with two of those directly allowing a Bulldog to score. Concordia put up a run in every inning except the fifth. The Bulldogs had four in the fourth inning with a two RBI single from freshman Avery O’Boyle who sent in a couple runners and a 2-run homer from senior Jennifer Katz.

Eurich took her fourth shutout in style with two hits and a whopping 13 strikeouts to shut down any possibility of a comeback from the Warriors.

Game two was a much better show of Waldorf’s defensive capabilities with solid pitching catching the Bulldogs unawares. Concordia’s runs were both scored by sneaking around the bases and taking advantage of slight opportunities to get ahead. Junior Grace Zaugg hit a single to get on base in the second inning, stole second and third base and scored Concordia’s first run of the game off an error by the third baseman. In the fifth, sophomore Laycee Josoff did the exact same thing to give Concordia a cushion in the final frame.

Denison pitched the whole game going five hits for one run and four strikeouts.

Concordia men’s golf competed in the annual Bulldog-Tiger Cup against rival Doane in Cairo, Neb. with hopes of repeating its win after last year, but lost 10-5 in the end. The team next competes at the Red Raider Invite on April 16 in Orange City, Iowa.

Concordia was able to split the best ball portion with junior Jake Richmond and sophomore Jacob Dowd winning the No. 1 matchup 1up and sophomores Maxwell Fremarek and Bret Brenneis winning the No. 2 matchup two-and-one. Seniors Jaxon Fullerton and Gavin Buttshaw halved the No. 4 match.

The Bulldogs were outmatched in the singles matches, however. Doane overwhelmed the team by adding 7.5 points to their total compared to another 2.5 from Concordia. Senior Justin Webert was the only Bulldog to win outright, taking a two-and-one win over Doane’s Jack Millard. Fullerton, Buttshaw and senior Jake Hagerbaumer halved their matches.

The Concordia powerlifting team finished their season with the second ever Concordia Nebraska Collegiate Powerlifting Meet on April 12. The event also allowed Concordia to celebrate its seniors including Jack Freeman, Tyrek Fuller, Jack Hedke, Taylor Hedke, Kenzie Houser, Abigail Velten and Adam Widmann. The small-scale event included 10 Bulldog powerlifters with lifters coming from Midland University and Coffeyville Community College.