Sower sports roundup, April 26

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

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

Concordia’s tennis teams competed in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship tournament from April 24-26. Both teams made the championship round against the Morningside University Mustangs. The men were swept 4-0 to end their season but the women won 4-2 and clinched the automatic national qualifying bid.

In regular tennis matches, teams play out seven points with six singles matches and three doubles matches that combine to make one point. In tournament play, teams play until one team takes the advantage.

On the way to the men’s championship round, Concordia faced Doane University in the quarterfinals winning 4-0 and Mount Marty University in the semifinals narrowly winning 4-3 on April 24 in South Sioux City, Neb. The women, meanwhile, faced College of Saint Mary winning 4-0, and avenged their loss against Doane in the regular season taking the semifinal 4-1 on April 25.

The men against Doane took the doubles point early giving them the one-point advantage. Junior Nick Velders, freshman Ben Chisholm and sophomore Michael Bedrosian went on to win their singles matches 6-1, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0 respectively to take the dual.

Mount Marty was a much closer match with the deciding point coming down to the wire. The Lancers took the doubles point giving them the advantage going into the singles. However, Velders, Chisholm and juniors Hugo Fuentes and Santiago Abadia came through in the singles matches to clinch a trip to the championship.

The championship match against the No. 17 Mustangs took place in Sioux City, Iowa on April 26 and was the first time since 2018 that the tennis championships were held on outdoor courts. The only wins for the men were in the No. 1 doubles match team-up of Fuentes and Velders, who won 6-4. Velders had a one-point advantage in a tie-breaking set, but the match was cut short due to Morningside taking the point advantage.

The women won handedly against the Flames in their quarterfinal match with a quick doubles point and a No. 6 match forfeit to put the Bulldogs up. Freshman Ishane Derman and sophomore Alexa Richert brought in 6-0, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-0 wins respectively to put Concordia at four points to win the dual.

Doane saw similar treatment in the beginning with another doubles point win for the Bulldogs. Derman and Richert notched another win apiece and the other Derman, sophomore Chakira Derman, clinched the championship berth with a 6-3, 6-2 win in the No. 2 match. Ishane Derman’s win broke yet another tennis record, this one being the season singles record, set back in 2018-19 by Marlene Maier. Derman has 18 wins on the season.

The women avenged yet another loss by taking the championship match away from the Morningside Mustangs in Sioux City, Iowa on April 26. Concordia snatched the doubles point and took three of the singles matches. The elder Derman took her match 6-0, 6-3 alongside junior Alana Lopez Pagan (6-4, 7-6 (7-3)) and freshman Nina Milic (3-6, 6-2, 6-2).

This was the first time in program history that the women had taken the conference championship to confirm their trip to Mobile Ala. for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics tennis championships from May 13-17. This will be the first national appearance for the women’s tennis team as well.

Concordia softball finished up their regular season play with a double header against the College of Saint Mary Flames on April 26 in Omaha. The Bulldogs won the first game 6-3 and shutout the next 4-0. The team now has an overall record of 27-18 and a GPAC record of 12-10. The team starts pod play as the fifth seed in the tournament on April 30 playing Dakota Wesleyan University in Orange City, Iowa.

In game one against the Flames, Concordia got on the board early with a run from freshman Avery O’Boyle who ran in off a single from sophomore Aubriana Krieser in the first inning. Saint Mary responded with three in the fourth to take the lead. Krieser took that personally and netted two RBIs off a single in the top of the fifth to help retake the lead. Freshman Keira Farritor also had an RBI off a single in the inning. With two more runs in the sixth, the Bulldogs sealed the win. Sophomore Kaylei Denison pitched the whole first game for the Bulldogs going six hits for three runs and one strikeout.

Game two was a pitching masterclass by veteran senior Megan Eurich who only had four hits against her, but 10 strikeouts. Krieser put up two more RBIs in the game with a sacrifice fly in the first and a single in the fifth for the game winning runs. Sophomore Laycee Josoff put in two more RBIs with a single that sent junior Tobi Topp and senior Delanie Voshell in to pad out the win.